Unallotment lawsuit is filed
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A Minneapolis man filed a lawsuit today to try to block one part of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's unilateral budget cuts.
Bob Carney, a Republican political activist, claims Pawlenty went too far when he eliminated a state tax refund for political contributions as part of a bigger unallotment plan. Carney says Minnesotans are still entitled to that money because the refund is part of state tax law.
"This is not in the context of the rest of the unallotment issue, because there you have disputes between the Legislature and the governor as to how extensive the unallotment power is," Carney said. "This is simply a question of an individual taxpayer's right to their money."
But Gov. Pawlenty told reporters at event in Hudson, Wisconsin, that he thinks Carney's lawsuit is without merit. The Republican governor says his staff explained to Carney several times that the political contribution program functions as a rebate, not a refund.
"You know his theory of the case is that it is a tax refund. It's not a tax refund, it's a rebate that goes out to people," Pawlenty said. "It clearly is not a tax refund, but I think he's been pretty insistent on wanting to pursue the lawsuit. I don't think it's going to go well for him."
Carney filed his lawsuit in Ramsey County. District Court.
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