Give it back!

With the Legislative session just starting, much attention has been paid to the $2 billion plus budget surplus in Minnesota. Some say that money should go toward the cities and counties to provide property tax relief. However, if the counties and cities are so strapped for cash (supposedly due to state aid cuts) then why are they voting themselves pay raises – as the Scott County Board has just done? Many of us in the “real” world have not seen they regular pay raises that our city and county representatives have gotten. Some say that money should go toward MinnCare so that more people in need can get on. That is a laudable idea, but how does that help the unemployed or under-employed worker who is not eligible for MinnCare? Some say that the money should go toward aid to the poor – another laudable goal. However, vast majority of every tax dollar that goes toward poverty programs goes to bureaucracy. How is giving more money to an already bloated bureaucracy going to help the poor? Some say that money should go toward roads and transportation. While I admit that is a dire need (I too drive through the Crosstown Commons during rush hour), I also acknowledge that there are only so many road workers to go around and that all the money in the world is not going to make the road fixes happen any faster. Plus we just approved a transportation amendment to the state Constitution that we were told would provide us all the transportation dollars that we need for these projects. If that was the case, then why do we need more money for transportation?

If our legislators really want to help us with high gas costs or high property tax costs or high health care costs, they would reform the regulations that make our health care and gas more expensive and they would help cities and counties work to live within their budgets – like all citizens have to. Meanwhile, the Legislature should give the budget surplus back to those that paid it – the Minnesota taxpayer. Some may say that this is unfair since not everyone pays income taxes, but none of the other ideas are any fairer. Not everyone is eligible for MinnCare, not everyone pays property taxes and not everyone drives to Minneapolis to work each day.

The individual knows best what their needs are. A tax refund would help those that are in need of food, buy food. It would help those that are in need of health care buy their own health care (or pay imminent health care costs). It would help those whose property taxes have gone up, pay the property taxes. A refund of the tax surplus truly is the best and fairest way to disburse the tax surplus.