Say Anything Blog

Fritter Away Billion Dollar Surplus: check!

Raise Income Taxes; check!

Allow For Tuition Increases: check!

Allow for Property Taxes to Come Right Back up: check!

That’s an accomplishment to be ashamed of.

While the final totals for the legislative session aren’t in, it seems very clear that MOST of the surplus has been spent.  The really shameful thing is that the money didn’t need to be spent.  We’re going to be spending nearly a billion dollars a year more to get the same thing we’ve always gotten.  The average guy isn’t going to see a bit of difference.

The money is all going to special interests.  Special interests that the governor and the Republican leaders care about a lot more than they care about you.

The 2007 session had an $110 million income tax break based on your property taxes.  That tax break was abandoned this year in exchange for a $100 million income tax rate cut.  From where I’m sitting that was a $10 million income tax hike.

The 2009 legislature had a massive increase in state aid to higher education over and above the massive increase they had in 2007.  I haven’t seen the official numbers yet, but I was told that the total increase was 60% over the 2005 appropriation.  You’d think with those massive increases in state aid that the tuition students and parents pay would go down.  Nope.  The legislature even debated the idea of limiting tuition increases but the Republican leadership wouldn’t have it.  They don’t care about the students.  They don’t care about the parents.  They only care about the special interests who are going to overcharge the students even more, because they can.

The governor’s plan had a $400 million dollar increase in support for K-12 education.  $300 million of that is supposedly for tax relief.  The problem is that after the first year the school districts can raise the property taxes right back up.  In 2007 the schools got $100 million dollars more money.  Many school districts (including Grand Forks) jacked up taxes anyway.  By this legislative session the $100 million dollars they got was a woeful tragedy.  The legislature debated limiting future property tax limits but the Republican leadership would have none of that either.  The care more about special interests than they care about permanently lowering property taxes.

I have a question for the rank and file Republicans who dominate the ND legislature.  “Is this what you went to Bismarck to do?  Do you care about the taxpayers or just special interest like the Governor?”

I know there’s some legislators that fought to keep things from getting worse.  Earlier this week the Senate didn’t want to continue any of the income tax reduction we got last year.  I guess we have to be thankful those greedheads didn’t get their way.