Shannon Savick remembered they didn’t raise taxes on beer and clothes but forgets the reason was not because they didn’t want to but because they were convinced not to by complaints from voters and Republican legislators. She forgot to mention that they did raise taxes on cigarettes, one of the most regressive taxes, and they allowed for a county wheelage tax, another regressive tax.

They know increasing aid to cities usually isn’t passed on in property tax reduction. They put a one-year 3 percent maximum increase in property taxes in the law. The problem is, while it gives them cover for the 2014 election, after that the cities increase spending, reverse cut backs and property taxes go up every year. That “little” income tax increase she mentions moves Minnesota up from No. 12 to No. 4 on the states with highest income tax rates and moves the people in this new tax bracket into a combined state and federal tax rate of 50 percent. Shannon is a true tax-and-spend Democrat.

 

John Forman
Albert Lea