Minnesota newspapers react to Dayton's budget message

Editor's note: Newspapers around the state reacted quickly to Gov. Mark Dayton's budget message on Tuesday. Here is a sampling of comments from editors and editorial boards.

Star Tribune, Minneapolis:

Dayton's budget asks the top-earning 5.5 percent of the state's tax filers to pay $2.7 billion in additional income taxes over the next two years -- in other words, to provide about 43 percent of the solution to the projected $6.2 billion gap between state revenues and expenditures in fiscal 2012-13.

So much for shared sacrifice.

The tax-the-rich approach is fair, the DFL governor argued, because it would bring the effective state-plus-local tax rate paid by the affluent in line with what the middle class already pays -- about 12.3 percent.

However, Dayton's proposal would also give Minnesota the highest top-tier income tax rate in the nation in the next three years, which is the duration of Dayton's proposed temporary income tax surcharge for filers with taxable incomes above $500,000. And the total size of his proposed new taxes appears likely to rank at or near the top this year among the 50 states. ... What Dayton proposes would make Minnesota an outlier, at a time when the penalty for a reputation as a high-tax state is large and growing.

The Forum, Fargo-Moorhead:

Whether the Republican majority in the Minnesota Legislature supports or rejects Gov. Mark Dayton's call to preserve local government aid, Minnesotans need to understand what deep cuts in LGA will mean to their communities. It won't be pretty. ...

Moorhead, for example, has lost more than $2 million because of LGA cuts since 2008. If more cuts are made, the city will have two options: further reduce services or raise property taxes. Sentiment among some city leaders might be to cut services because they are loath to raise taxes....

The kind of cuts in LGA envisioned by some legislators will have real, on-the-ground consequences in communities all across Greater Minnesota. It's no longer about forgoing amenities, such as a golf course. It's about eroding already stressed services, such as fire protection.

Pioneer Press, St. Paul:

Gov. Mark Dayton delivered on his campaign pledge to look to Minnesota's upper-income earners to help dig the state out of its budget hole. And leaders of the Legislature delivered on their pledge to "live within our means" by opposing statewide tax hikes.

That is to be expected from a newly elected Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor and a newly elected Republican-controlled Legislature. Their campaign platforms and visions for the state are in conflict. And on Tuesday, the day Dayton submitted his proposed budget, that conflict burst into the open.

This is part an important national debate about the proper role of government. We fall toward the limited-government side of this debate but we will try to keep an open mind about this year's budget discussion. ...

The release of the governor's budget will be followed by a new revenue forecast in several weeks that may shed more light on the state's economic outlook. Republican legislative committee chairs will put together their budget bills based on their "live within our means" philosophy.

If those bills are as unacceptable to Dayton as his plan is to Republican leaders, the two sides will have a hard time agreeing on a budget before the regular legislative session ends in May. Agreement before July 1 would be needed to avert a partial government shutdown.

Minnesota Daily, University of Minnesota:

Dayton's proposed tax increases are dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Even if it were advantageous to raise taxes to these high levels, the current Legislature will never go along with them. Therefore, they are not a practical solution to the state's budget shortfall.

After having their own budget-trimming bill vetoed by Dayton and having seen Dayton's budget proposal, it is up to the Legislature to make the next move.

Republicans must either work with Dayton to reach a compromise on his proposals, or they must present their own comprehensive solution to Minnesota's budget deficit. Either way, both sides have shown where their priorities lie. It is the duty of both the governor and the Legislature to seek to reach a compromise.

Free Press, Mankato:

Gov. Mark Dayton unveiled a budget today that raises $3.5 billion in new taxes, mostly on the upper income and wealthy, cuts $775 million in health care -- nursing homes and assisted living payments take a hit -- and kind of surprisingly doesn't call for more cuts in local government aid. ...

Dayton's budget message seemed to emphasize he was not going to put up with property tax increases. The Minnesota Department of Revenue has a study that shows for every $1 cut in local government aid, property taxes go up 67 cents. ...

So far, it appears Dayton is wanting to curtail more cuts to LGA and help keep property taxes stable. It may not play out that way exactly, but outstate cities certainly have a friend in the governor's mansion where a few years ago they had only an enemy.

-- Joe Spear, editor

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