...Can Reasonably Assume GOPers Are Telling The Truth
Mitch Berg is taking a turn carrying water for Boardroom Tycoons over at his blog; "right" now the water he's carrying has to do with LGA (local government aid).
And there's no point in trying to refute Berg with "facts." After all, Reagan told the faithful that "Facts are stupid things" - and Berg is nothing if not faithful. IOW - Reagan said it; Berg lives it.
Instead, let's take a look at what then-candidate Tim Pawlenty said while running for the corner office at the Capital, and what's happened (can you say "Flip-Flop"?) since TBag moved into it:
It's really rather pathetic, how low today's Greed Over Principles party has sunk.
Reasonable people no longer can reasonably assume GOPers are telling the truth.
And yesterday was one of those two least favorite days of the year. I don't escrow, so twice a year I see - and feel the pain - of Gov. T-Bag's "stewardship" of the great state of Minnesota. In 2001, I paid $2,316 in property taxes; as a result of the Property Tax Reform Bill enacted in 2001, and signed by then-Gov. Jesse Ventura, I paid $1,845. Under now-Gov. T-Bag, I paid $3,451 in property taxes this year.
The State House Research Department prepared an eleven page slide show in January of 2007 explaining what the 2001 Property Tax Reform Bill was supposed to accomplish; it's available here.
According to the House Research Department, the goals of that 2001 Reform were:
Realign the state-local fiscal relationship:
• • Increase state's role in funding state priorities (education, courts, transit)
• • Decrease state's role in financing municipal services to give residents more direct responsibility for municipal service decisions
The bottom line, is Gov T-Bag accomplished the latter, while ignoring the former. While researching this post, I noted that MN2020.org has a new report out; published just this morning by Jeff Van Wychen. From it:
Since 2002, Minnesota property taxes, in general, and homeowner property taxes, in particular, have increased rapidly. The cause of the statewide growth in property taxes is not growth in local government budgets. These property tax hikes are the result of state policies that require more public costs to be borne by property taxpayers and a larger share of total property taxes to be borne by homeowners.
Yep - since 2002, my property taxes have increased rapidly; from $1,845 in 2002 to $3,451 in 2009 - dam near doubling during the reign of T-Bag The Terrible (a/k/a, "Worst. Governor. EVER.").
(As noted previously, diaries from campaigns and candidates aren't just welcome; they're encouraged. - promoted by Joe Bodell)
by Matt Entenza
The governor's pen is all that comes between us and taxes. It's undeniable. Just not in quite the way our governor and his party want us to think it is.
For years, the GOP message machine has told us they're the last line of defense between us and "some of the highest taxes in the country." Unfortunately, if anything has contributed to tax problems in the last seven years, it's precisely our governor's and GOP legislators' disingenuous take on taxes.
This week, I traveled Minnesota telling the truth about Gov. Pawlenty's unallotments: that they force local tax increases. Our communities can't cut basic services as far as Gov. Pawlenty's cuts would force us to, and he and the GOP know it. For years, they've played with terminology, creating "fees" that are really taxes, and knowingly forced the hand of local governments to raise property taxes to pay for fire departments, police departments, road repairs and other things we all count on. In other words, our taxes have increased - the governor and his party have just given themselves the fiscal equivalent of plausible deniability.
A tax is not a tax is not a tax. Minnesota property taxes are regressive. A larger share of the burden falls on those with a lesser ability to pay. And our taxes have become more regressive over the years, as the more progressive income tax has fallen as a share of total collections. State aid to cities, or local government aid, came about because it's more efficient at funding basic services than local levies are. LGA is smart; it's responsible. It's very Minnesotan.
But the way things are, according to the House Research Department (the nonpartisan office that provides data to the Minnesota House of Representatives), your property taxes are likely to increase between 2.9 and 5.2 percent. In some places, the number is much higher. Taconite cities? More than 10 percent. And if you live in Minneapolis or St. Paul, your percentages may be lower than some, but you'll see big dollar-amount increases.
Gov. Pawlenty and his legislative backers know we can't cut basic services as far as their budget maneuverings would force us to. But Minnesotans also can't bear property tax hikes as high as would be required to bridge the gap - meaning we will see cuts to basic services throughout the state, and some harsh ones. More than one Minnesota municipality has flirted with the idea of eliminating emergency services. If that isn't a scary scenario, I don't know what is. Some conservatives want us to believe that these types of examples are hyperbole. They're not.
Our governor has always been good at politics. It's in making good policy for Minnesota that he's been challenged. In 2005, then-Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson and I forced Gov. Pawlenty to a government shutdown in order to preserve some of the crucial services Minnesotans count on. It wasn't a perfect solution, but Gov. Pawlenty got the message. It saved thousands of people from cuts that bleed.
Of course, Gov. Pawlenty isn't running for re-election. Minnesota will have new leadership in 2011. We cannot continue down Tim Pawlenty's path. I challenge the emerging GOP candidates for Tim Pawlenty's job to tell Minnesotans what they'll do differently. Regressive financial shell games are not the way forward. They don't make our communities stronger. They don't provide better education to our kids. They don't make us safer. They cost us.
Lee Helgen, city councilperson for St Paul was advocating for his city, even on the last day of session. I encountered him, armed with handouts and numbers. Lee Helgen is advocating strongly for St Paul, because St Paul is a special case. The very capitol grounds that we were standing on are served by St Paul city services, yet those buildings pay no contribution in property tax to that cost. Why should the burden of serving the state buildings be paid for by St Paul homeowners in their property taxes? Add to this, the abundance of churches, colleges and other state-mandated tax exempt buildings and you have the most valued property NOT supporting the city. St Paul has 28% of its property value exempt while North Oaks has 5.9% exempt.
Traditionally, the state has made up for the missing property taxes of state buildings by providing local government aid (LGA). LGA is partially based on the ability to raise revenue from the property tax base, which helps St Paul because 28% of its property tax base is exempt. However, the constant cuts to LGA hurt St Paul, because there isn't that property tax base. And St Paul is a model city of being lean and cautious in spending. Indeed despite its disadvantages, it is still ranked 63 out of 117 cities, on city taxes.
Lee Helgen was not only lobbying for St Paul but all cities as well. The state is facing an ongoing structural budget gap of $6.7 million that Republican Governor Pawlenty has been avoiding through one-time accounting gimmicks like paying late and through cutting LGA disproportionately more. This transfers the tax burden from state to local governments. Governor Pawlenty cut income taxes, especially for the rich, the ones most able to pay, so now the rich pay less in Minnesota overall taxes, 10.1% than the rest of us, 11.4%. Pawlenty then pushed down that tax burden to property taxes. Homeowner taxes have been affected 1.5 times more than commercial property. Even with drastic cuts, property taxes have had to be raised as any homeowner can attest. This impacts the unemployed, the retired, the disabled and other folks who are not earning the income to handle tax increases. It is another example of Pawlenty taking property taxes from even poorest among us and giving tax breaks to the rich.
According to WCCO, that's just what he's going to do. A one-time 15% reduction...well, any one-time funding reduction does what, exactly? Save people a couple hundred dollars, only to stick them with a bigger bill in 2008 once more?
Or even more sinister, does it then allow Sviggum and his Republican counterparts to blame 2008's inevitably "rising" property taxes on the DFL legislative majorities' incorrigible tax-and-spend policies*?
Don't get me wrong - property tax relief is a good thing. But the bind that homeowners find themselves in today needs a long-term outlook and a long-term solution. A one-time offset just won't cut it. This move smacks of political gimmickry, and House DFL leaders would do well to ignore it and press on toward a sustainable solution that doesn't increase taxes, but shifts them to the state level while keeping overhead costs down.
*Someone please tell me what it is government is supposed to do if not tax citizens fairly and spend money to support communities equally.
Lee Helgen, city councilperson for St Paul was advocating for his city, even on the last day of session. I encountered him, armed with handouts and numbers. Lee Helgen is advocating strongly for St Paul, because St Paul is a special case. The very capitol grounds that we were standing on are served by St Paul city services, yet those buildings pay no contribution in property tax to that cost. Why should the burden of serving the state buildings be paid for by St Paul homeowners in their property taxes? Add to this, the abundance of churches, colleges and other state-mandated tax exempt buildings and you have the most valued property NOT supporting the city. St Paul has 28% of its property value exempt while North Oaks has 5.9% exempt.
