Posted: 1/4/02.
House Republicans still refuse to support raising taxes
by T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter
Unsettled that Gov. Jesse Ventura left the door open to raising taxes, House Republicans stuck fast to their self-imposed rigor of refusing to raise taxes in dealing with the state’s budget deficit.
House Speaker Steve Sviggum said expanding the state sales tax, increasing the cigarette tax, and other tax increases “are not an option.”
(The speaker did not include the state gas tax).
House Republicans again cited education and nursing homes as areas of state spending that are sacrosanct — not open to cuts.
Rather than raising taxes, Republicans look to spending cuts and the use of the state budget reserves as a means of dealing with the projected $1.9 billion projected budget deficit for 2002-03.
Sviggum called on Ventura to immediately put into effect a state hiring freeze — he should have done this a month ago, he said.
If just 3.000 fewer nonessential state employees were hired, it would mean a savings to the state of about $120 million per year, said Sviggum.
The hiring freeze should extend to higher education, he said.
Republican spending targets
Republicans also look to the Highway Helper Program, Smart Growth grant money, and $14 million left unallocated in the local government aid account as potential spending cut targets, among other items.
House Majority Leader Tim Pawlenty, R, Eagan, said the current Republican list of spending cuts probably tallies a few hundred million dollars in total.
“That’s better than we got out of the Governor tonight,” said Pawlenty, referring to Ventura’s State of the State address.
Republicans will be offering more potential spending cuts in upcoming days, said Sviggum and Pawlenty.
As for the action Ventura is demanding from the Legislature, Sviggum said he didn’t know exactly what the governor considers “action.”
Passing a budget bill within a week of coming into session would be “very difficult,” said Sviggum.
In his address Ventura said he would adamantly oppose changing last session’s major tax reforms, but Senate Majority Leader Roger Moe said he’d take the governor’s line that everything should be on the table.
That includes last session’s tax reforms.
“I think that’s where we should start,” said Moe.
“I hope the governor would not be so blind as to the unintended consequences of that tax bill — the excesses of that tax reform,” said Moe.
Tax bill needs to be examined
There may be things in the tax bill that need to be examined, he said. There are many examples of some of the poorest people in the state seeing their property taxes increasing 60, 70, 100 percent, said Moe.
“I don’t think we should necessarily balance the Ventura deficit on the backs of students or higher property taxes,” he said.
Moe defended his use of the term “Ventura deficit.”
Ventura takes credit for the tax rebates and reforms enacted in recent years, Moe said. Certainly, he also has to be responsible for the fiscal conditions as they currently exist, Moe argued.
Senate DFLers will be quick to point out the things they like and dislike in Ventura’s budget-balancing package, said Moe.
“It will not be political rhetoric; it will be constructive alternatives,” said Moe. The proposal is expected to be released next Thursday (Jan. 10).
Everything belongs on the table
Moe said everything in seeking a budget resolution properly belongs on the table.
But Moe said he wasn’t sure what the governor meant when he called for action from the Legislature within a week of coming into session.
It will take some time to examine the administration’s budget-balancing proposal, said Moe. He expected that the Senate fiance and tax committees would begin to review Ventura’s proposal once its made.
It’s also important to get feedback from the public on the measure, said Moe.