In New Ad Dalrymple Takes Credit For “Unprecedented” Tax Relief, Budget Surpluses

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Written By:
Rob Port

May 22, 2012
10:47am

Governor Jack Dalrymple’s campaign has their first ad out:

Some interesting claims from the governor. For instance, the “unprecedented tax relief” he touts. Do North Dakotans really feel like they’ve gotten a significant level of tax relief? Nearly 30,000 North Dakotans signed petitions to put a measure on the upcoming June ballot to abolish property taxes, and while one (somewhat questionable) poll shows heavy opposition to the measure, the reason for opposition most often cited is concern about other taxes going up if property taxes are abolished.

That doesn’t exactly speak to an electorate that is satisfied with their current level of taxation.

Dalrymple is referring to the $400 million dollar state buy-down of local property taxes, but that’s not tax relief. That’s a transfer of tax burdens from the local level to the state level. The other $100 million Governor Dalrymple is referring to is income tax relief, and while that’s certainly pertinent, it’s a paltry sum in a state running billion dollar surpluses.

As for Dalrymple taking credit for surpluses, let’s remember that going into his first legislative session as governor he proposed a budget increasing state spending by 11% over the biennium, or nearly 24% if you count all the spending increases the governor routed around the general fund to hide their impact on the budget.

To be fair, a state growing rapidly both in terms of population and economic activity like North Dakota is will need to grow government. More people means we need more cops and firefighters. More traffic means more road work, and expanded infrastructure. But 24% more?

From 2003 to the end of the current biennium in 2013, under Governor Dalrymple and our previous Governor John Hoeven for whom Dalrymple was Lt. Governor, state spending has grown 125% a rate that’s almost double the growth in the federal budget:

That Dalrymple is now taking credit for budget surpluses makes me laugh. We have budget surpluses despite more than doubling the size of our state government because we have an oil boom, not because of the leadership of spendthrifts like Dalrymple.