Civic Groups Say Governor’s Budget Bad for People and Economy

Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposed budget is bad for people, bad for the economy and fails to stabilize state revenues according to leaders of the recently launched "Invest in Minnesota Campaign."

The Invest in Minnesota Campaign is supported by leading labor, faith and nonprofit organizations. The group outlined the following flaws in the Governor's proposed budget:

The Governor's proposal:

• Makes real cuts causing real pain to real people by reneging on the state's commitment to extend health insurance to over 20,000 children
• Hurts the state's ailing economy by cutting thousands of jobs and disinvesting in higher education and core services
• Fails as a real solution to the state's budget problems because it leaves a $1.7 billion projected deficit into the next biennium when real costs of services are included

 

"Ordinarily in a recession, the state extends its help to those hardest hit," said Brian Rusche, executive director of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition. "This plan does the opposite. Reducing access to children's health care, job training, and transportation hurts the very families most affected by the downturn. Why cut the building blocks to success for children and the future workforce?"

"Minnesota is losing jobs and the Governor proposes to cut jobs with his budget proposal," said Steve Hunter, secretary-treasurer of the Minnesota AFL-CIO. "The Governor's budget proposal is flat out irresponsible. It hurts people, hurts the economy and does not address the revenue shortfall with a revenue solution."

"We don't need to take more families off the track to success," said Marcia Avner, public policy director of the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. "Our elected officials need to find real solutions to the revenue shortfall. The Invest in Minnesota Campaign will engage the public in a search for solutions to the revenue shortfall during this Legislative Session and the months ahead. Our goal: to solve the revenue shortfall and get Minnesota back on the right track."

"Minnesota should be looking for fair ways to raise more revenue instead of cutting and disinvesting," said Dane Smith, president of Growth & Justice. "There are reasonable and fair revenue options for preserving and even expanding the vital public investments that have always provided a foundation for shared prosperity.  The legislature should not give up on those options."

Invest in Minnesota cited these additional flaws in the Governor's plan:

• Lowering the sales tax rate adds to Minnesota's revenue shortfall.
• Removing the "foreign operation" tax avoidance loophole helps, but ineffective tax breaks such as those in JOBZ and in income tax cuts for high income households would remain unchanged.
• The 16 percent cut in the renters' credit raises taxes on hundreds of thousands of renters.
• Raiding the Health Care Access Fund reduces future access to health care and violates the premise of the fund.

 

Key members of the Invest in Minnesota Campaign include:

• The Minnesota AFL-CIO with its 350,000 union families statewide.
• The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits with more than 2,000 member organizations.