Do you remember when Minnesota constantly ranked in the Top Five for Places to Live. Education. Income. Quality of Life. Etc. Does anyone see a correlation with that decline and this current administration. I shudder when I hear his name tossed around as a vice president candidate......As if more of what he has done for Minnesota is what this country needs right now...
Our fair governor Tim Pawlenty made the promise of all republican promises when he declared he will not raise taxes. What he meant was he will not raise state sales tax. So the money has to come from somewhere since he is not cutting spending to match this goal.
Counties were forced to raise property taxes, cigarettes went up a buck, fees on city services went up, gas tax went up, before you know it we are being nickled and dimed from every angle but Tim still says I kept my promise and have not raised taxed...Vote for me again...sorry you are done bucko...
Well enter recession - We have high taxes and fees and the emergence of a third variable; a decrease in property values which means a decrease in property taxes. Not to mention record high foreclosures and lose of revenue.
Enter Cross-town Commons Reconstruction ProjectEnter Light Rail North Corridor
Enter Stadium Funding Bill
Enter 35w Bridge Rebuild Project
All worthy projects. All in my opinion need to be completed. But just like I cant go out and just start doing stuff without a way to pay for stuff, congress shouldn't be able to either.
Shit... can you say budget shortfall?
What can we do? Take money out of reserves? Check
Raise Sales Tax Tim? No..
Cut Spending Tim?...No
Tax out of towners...wait that sounds good. Lets give more tickets to people from out of town. Pull them over for any minor infraction give them a ticket and have them pay us this will allow us to raise revenue by taking money from other states.
Downside.. we are in a recession. We rely fairly strongly on tourism and you are pissing off tourists. Anyone notice how easy it is to get a parking spot at the mall of America these days?
*Recommendations do not pull people over or ticket people with out of town plates let them spend their money in our stores and establishments. Let them leave wanting to come back.
We need a leader for Minnesota who is going to have to make some very tough and not too popular decisions for the future of our state. This is leader who is going to have to be courageous, take bold action in the face of criticism and opposition. This is obviously not Tim Pawlenty..
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