The Joys of the Internet
I was poking around on the State Legislatures website when I found a new toy! Archives of the telecasts of the floor sessions. Now to be honest, I do have better things to do with the few hours that I have in my day, but I had heard buzz about a speech that my House Rep (Rep. Mike Beard R-Shakopee) made on Tuesday, so I checked it out. After listening to his speech, I noticed that there was video from this morning's session. It was voting on the Minority Reports to the Omnibus Tax bill so I figured I would check out some of the debate. Boy was it worth the time spent.
Rep. Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon) spoke first on the Minority Report. The Minority Report was that the House adopt the Governor's budge AND give the $1b+ surplus back to taxpayers in the form of property tax relief. He hit the majority hard on the fact that this was their last chance (of this session) to address property tax relief - something that the DFL hit hard on in the last election. He said that the Minority report divides the surplus equitably among all property owners in the state - giving them a 15% decrease in their property tax debt to the state. Contemplate that for just a moment readers.....that decrease would (at the Logical Household) be a little more than what it went up in the last year (11.75%). He then listed out the things that would not be possible if the Minority Report were adopted. Taxes would not go up, spending would not go up, $2million in padding of the Met Council's budget would not happen, child care program spending would not go up 106%, the Secretary of State would not get a 14% increase in their budget, we would not be able to afford to go toward single payer health care, we would not be able to increase the per deum and housing that is paid to our legislators (remember - their first action in January was to vote themselves a pay raise!). We would have to actually have to maintain the welfare reforms that were undone in the Health and Human Services bill that passed last week. You have to listen to his whole speech. He hit the DFL hard on a lot of issues. On a side note - when he thanked Rep. Mindy Greiling (D-Roseville) for making the children of his district 2nd class citizens as a result of her "education" bill, I about fell off my chair!
The other thing the made me sit up and was when Rep. Paul Marquardt (DFL-Dilworth) called a tax refund a tax INCREASE on property taxes because of decreases in Local Government Aid (LGA). That brought Rep. Mark Buesquens (R-Jordan) to the mike. He wanted Rep. Marquardt to please point out which page and line that tax increase was in because this was the 2nd day in a row that Rep. Marquardt made that claim! Rep. Marquardt admitted that the dollar figure he threw out was incorrect...that he refers to a simulation put together by researchers. Rep. Buesgens reminded the House that these property tax increases (in the simulation) are a result of LOCAL decisions - not state decisions. The bills that are coming before the House do nothing to address the "insatiable" local government spending. Rep. John Berns (R-Hopkins) added that only to the DFL would "giving money back to Minnesota's hardworking taxpayers be called a tax increase..." He brought up the fact that there was $200million in spending that could wait until next year. He said that we don't need to grow government 19% which is what this bill does. He said that we were headed for another $5-7 BILLION deficit in 2-4 years if we do not act. He reminded several of his DFL colleagues that they campaigned as fiscal conservatives/moderates and that there was nothing moderate in this bill! Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) got up and said that we can not talk about permanent tax relief in the same breath as talking about a $5BILLION INCREASE in spending.
Then came Rep. Mike Beard (R-Shakopee). Now I've known Mike for many years. Mike is a kind, soft-spoken gentleman who rarely gets "mad". However, the subject of LGA "cuts" is one of those subjects that gets Rep. Beard going. Rep. Beard reminded Rep. Marquardt that local governement spending went up $2.3 BILLION (in the last 4 or 5 years) while LGA "cuts" were only approximately $300 million! Rep. Marquardt argued that the cuts were almost $1BILLION. If you add in school district bonding that was $60million (personally I don't see how building more schools - as many districts are doing - has anything to do with this but I digress.....). Either Reps. math shows that the cuts were much less than the spending increases. Rep. Beard then got up and spoke about budget discipline and how it was healthy for families, cities, counties, school districts and states! You can not argue with that logic! He also spoke that maybe it was time to enact levy limits. He also mentioned that it was better to leave money in the hands of the taxpayers in the firstplace rather than send the money to St. Paul and then send it back to the taxpayer they just took it from.
If you live in Representative Beard's district, you really should listen to the whole speech. I simply can not do justice, in the written word, to the passion that was behind his speech.
My new "toy" may not be the shiniest on the block, but it did make for a very entertaining afternoon. I'm glad I took the hour to look up these speeches and I think I may have to tune in again - especially as the session draws to a close.
Rep. Steve Sviggum (R-Kenyon) spoke first on the Minority Report. The Minority Report was that the House adopt the Governor's budge AND give the $1b+ surplus back to taxpayers in the form of property tax relief. He hit the majority hard on the fact that this was their last chance (of this session) to address property tax relief - something that the DFL hit hard on in the last election. He said that the Minority report divides the surplus equitably among all property owners in the state - giving them a 15% decrease in their property tax debt to the state. Contemplate that for just a moment readers.....that decrease would (at the Logical Household) be a little more than what it went up in the last year (11.75%). He then listed out the things that would not be possible if the Minority Report were adopted. Taxes would not go up, spending would not go up, $2million in padding of the Met Council's budget would not happen, child care program spending would not go up 106%, the Secretary of State would not get a 14% increase in their budget, we would not be able to afford to go toward single payer health care, we would not be able to increase the per deum and housing that is paid to our legislators (remember - their first action in January was to vote themselves a pay raise!). We would have to actually have to maintain the welfare reforms that were undone in the Health and Human Services bill that passed last week. You have to listen to his whole speech. He hit the DFL hard on a lot of issues. On a side note - when he thanked Rep. Mindy Greiling (D-Roseville) for making the children of his district 2nd class citizens as a result of her "education" bill, I about fell off my chair!
The other thing the made me sit up and was when Rep. Paul Marquardt (DFL-Dilworth) called a tax refund a tax INCREASE on property taxes because of decreases in Local Government Aid (LGA). That brought Rep. Mark Buesquens (R-Jordan) to the mike. He wanted Rep. Marquardt to please point out which page and line that tax increase was in because this was the 2nd day in a row that Rep. Marquardt made that claim! Rep. Marquardt admitted that the dollar figure he threw out was incorrect...that he refers to a simulation put together by researchers. Rep. Buesgens reminded the House that these property tax increases (in the simulation) are a result of LOCAL decisions - not state decisions. The bills that are coming before the House do nothing to address the "insatiable" local government spending. Rep. John Berns (R-Hopkins) added that only to the DFL would "giving money back to Minnesota's hardworking taxpayers be called a tax increase..." He brought up the fact that there was $200million in spending that could wait until next year. He said that we don't need to grow government 19% which is what this bill does. He said that we were headed for another $5-7 BILLION deficit in 2-4 years if we do not act. He reminded several of his DFL colleagues that they campaigned as fiscal conservatives/moderates and that there was nothing moderate in this bill! Rep. Steve Gottwalt (R-St. Cloud) got up and said that we can not talk about permanent tax relief in the same breath as talking about a $5BILLION INCREASE in spending.
Then came Rep. Mike Beard (R-Shakopee). Now I've known Mike for many years. Mike is a kind, soft-spoken gentleman who rarely gets "mad". However, the subject of LGA "cuts" is one of those subjects that gets Rep. Beard going. Rep. Beard reminded Rep. Marquardt that local governement spending went up $2.3 BILLION (in the last 4 or 5 years) while LGA "cuts" were only approximately $300 million! Rep. Marquardt argued that the cuts were almost $1BILLION. If you add in school district bonding that was $60million (personally I don't see how building more schools - as many districts are doing - has anything to do with this but I digress.....). Either Reps. math shows that the cuts were much less than the spending increases. Rep. Beard then got up and spoke about budget discipline and how it was healthy for families, cities, counties, school districts and states! You can not argue with that logic! He also spoke that maybe it was time to enact levy limits. He also mentioned that it was better to leave money in the hands of the taxpayers in the firstplace rather than send the money to St. Paul and then send it back to the taxpayer they just took it from.
If you live in Representative Beard's district, you really should listen to the whole speech. I simply can not do justice, in the written word, to the passion that was behind his speech.
My new "toy" may not be the shiniest on the block, but it did make for a very entertaining afternoon. I'm glad I took the hour to look up these speeches and I think I may have to tune in again - especially as the session draws to a close.
Labels: MN Legislature
posted by The Lady Logician at
4:11 PM
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