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Capitol View®
Tom Scheck

Bakk looks to tax income, internet sales, music dowloads, etc.

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The chair of the Minnesota Senate Tax Committee says he's willing to consider raising state income taxes and applying the sales tax to internet purchases and music downloads. DFL Senator Tom Bakk of Cook said today

that those are just some of the ideas he's considering to help balance the state's budget. Bakk and other Senate Democrats have a budget plan that cuts spending across the board and relies on $2 billion in new revenue. Bakk said the new revenue would include a mix of tax hikes. "I'm not taking the sales tax off of the table," Bakk said. "I just offered you up a couple of solutions where we're going to look at expanding the sales tax to music downloads and we're going to look at some online purchases where you can. Our sales tax base is eroding with all of these internet transactions and we've got to find a way to get our arms around that." Bakk said he is not willing to consider expanding the sales tax to clothing or some professional services. He also argued that Governor Pawlenty can't balance his budget without new revenue. Pawlenty wants to borrow nearly $1 billion in future tobacco payments to balance the budget. Pawlenty and Republicans in the House and Senate have argued that raising taxes would only make economic problems worse.