What a rosy picture a Jan. 31 letter writer painted of the job Mark Dayton and Democrats allegedly has done for Minnesota. The problem is the letter was far short of the truth.

Let’s take school finances. When the GOP controlled the Legislature it offered up to pay the school shifts sooner — Mark Dayton vetoed that legislation. The GOP passed balanced budgets and sent them to the governor — Mark Dayton vetoed those budgets and shut Minnesota government down because those budgets did not spend enough.

Now the DFL Party is taking credit for paying off schools, balancing the budget and the surplus that resulted from budgets passed by the GOP. Don’t believe me? Take a look at Gov. Dayton’s own presentation at: www.mmb.state.mn.us/doc/fu/13/handout-nov13.pdf.

This shows that $3.46 billion of the replenishment of reserves — K-12 shift buyback and cash flow — came from GOP budget, not DFL budgets. In fact, the tax-and-spending increases of well over $2 billion didn’t kick in until July 1, so we have only been under that budget for six months.

While the DFL just like the Democrats claim most of the jobs lost have been recovered, they fail to mention that in Minnesota, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development, 49 percent of Minnesota’s workforce remains underemployed: www.scribd.com/doc/187051076/DEED-Slideshow.

What that means is that many of the so-called replacement jobs are lower-level, part-time or temporary jobs. You might call that success. I sure don’t!

The letter writer jumps on a claim that Forbes ranked Minnesota as eighth best place in the country. A closer look at those numbers in that index you will find that Minnesota ranked No. 34 in business costs and No. 22 in regulatory environment. If you look at others who rank states on business climates, Minnesota has a different picture.

Site Selection doesn’t have Minnesota in the top 25, The Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council has Minnesota at No. 45 and lists Minnesota as one of the most anti-entrepreneur policy environment in the country. According to SBE, Minnesota has the fourth-highest personal income tax rate in the country, third-highest capital gains tax rates, third-highest in corporate tax rates, third highest in unemployment taxes and tied for fourth highest on health insurance mandates — not exactly successes. It should be no surprise that Minnesota ranked No. 47 as 4th worst on the Tax Foundation Business Tax Climate rankings then: www.sbecouncil.org.

We can and should expect better! Politicians in St. Paul need to understand that our checkbooks are not their ATM. They need to understand that families, small businesses and taxpayers are still struggling and often just treading water. The $2-plus billion in new taxes and spending was unnecessary and put on the backs of all Minnesotans. Instead of reform and budget restraint we got spend, spend and spend. Is that what your family does when money is tight? But that’s what we get from a governor who has his fortune and earnings outside of Minnesota. Want more tax increases? I sure don’t!

 

David Anderson

Lonsdale