Time for GOP to give a little

Published 11:22am Friday, May 27, 2011
Comments

If the intention of Minnesota residents in electing a Republican Legislature and a Democratic governor was to ultimately take a balanced approach to the $5 billion budget deficit – that is, not too heavy on either spending cuts or tax increases – clearly, the leadership in the House and Senate didn’t see it that way.

We believe it is time for the Republicans to give a little.

State polls suggest that Minnesotans want a budget in which both sides compromise. While state residents elected a Republican Legislature, they also elected Dayton, who throughout his campaign pledged to use a tax increase on the wealthiest Minnesotans to help solve the budget deficit.

Republicans have used statistics that say they are simply reducing the growth of state spending, and that a tax increase will be a “job killer.” But not everyone, particularly the governor, agrees with that assessment. If wealthy residents, knowing the financial condition Minnesota is in, decide to leave the state or cut jobs because of a tax increase on their personal incomes, then they are simply doing it out of spite, and not economic realities.

Everyone talks about the need for compromise. Republicans need to step up and be willing to do so.

Comments
  1. Dave Adams May 27, 2011 at 5:10 pm <Link>

    Maybe its time the Democrats got a little of their own medicine! You did not compromise when it was needed, and look at our economy? Compromise for what…more spending?…more fiscal book juggling?…more worthless government programing and agencies that do not work?

    NO! We did not elect these people to compromise! We elected these people to stop that wasteful spending!

    Dayton and his DFL are the ones who need to get real here.

    And this Newspaper needs to serving the needs of its conservative base much better than this…..But then I take it you must have NOT understood the results of the last election…..

  2. William Schulz May 28, 2011 at 3:46 am <Link>

    In rebuttal, point by point:

    The Journal “IF the intention of Minnesota voters in electing a Republican Legislature and Democratic governor was to atke a balanced approached…. We believe it is time for the Republicans to give a little”

    Well, that’s a big if, and totally unproven, though obviously the devoutly wished outcome of this paper, namely that the Republicans would not do any cutting, would increase taxes. What then would have been the purpose of the elections, to foist a sham on the people of Minnesota, and have the Republicans start acting like the spendthrift Democrats? The Journal leaps from a highly improbable “if” to assuming that they are correct in their wild guesses.

    Next, the Journal asserts Minnesotans want the legislature to compromise with the governor by spending more and raising taxes. Oh? Then why did they vote Republican majorities in the lgislature, majorities who ran for election on the promise to CUT spending and NOT raise taxes? The Republican majority is simply being true and honest with their supporters when they hold the line against more spending and taxes. And you chastise them for keeping promises, while praising Dayton for attempting to raise spending and taxes.

    And one inconvenient fact you omit is that the Republicans started out saying they would only authorize 31 billion in spending while Dayton demanded a 27% increase in spending to about 37 billion. Along the way over the past several months the Republicans have raised their spending from an estimated $31 billion to $34 billion. THE REPUBLICANS HAVE ALREADY COMPROMISED.The Republicans have already “given a little” In fact they have given a lot more than many of their supporters would have liked to see. When the leaders of the GOP asked to meet with Dayton to hammer out differences, as they gathered around the conference table they asked him how much he expected to raise with the tax increases, and he could not give any estimate of the amount. So someone asked him what did he want to do with the money he would raise with the higher taxes. His response was that he wasn’t sure, but there must be some good purpose to put it to. In other words, all this sturm und drang from the governor about no compromise when the GOP have compromised, and he has no idea how much money the new taxes might raise, nor what should be done with the money. Dayton just wants to raise taxes for the sake of raising taxes, and to keep the money in a slush fund to reward his supporters and buy votes. It’s all a sham.

    Finally, the Journal’s statement that wealthy individuals who might leave the State because of inccreases in taxes on their incomes would be leaving from spite and not economic realities makes me wonder if the author of the opinion piece is allowed to have a personal checking account, as he or she is certainly not competent to figure out that a tax increase is an economic reality which deprives its victims of their earnings while providing nothing in return. It is little different than saying that if you are of a certain race or religion the government is going to confiscate your property, as the governor doesn’t believe that members of that race/ religion are sacrificing enough, and must be punished. History is rife with stories of the mass exodus of peoples who were financially set upon by their governments, and gathered their belongings and families and fled to more friendly climes. Many of the jobs which have left this State in the past several years were not jobs which ended,or were dissolved. They were transported to other States with lower tax structures more friendly to business, families, individuals. And that is a matter of reacting to economic reality, not spite.

    To suggest that it is spite, is to say that a consumer who goes from store to store to find the best price for an item he wants to purchase is doing it out of spite, not enlightened economic self interest. Individuals, and businesses, always seek the “environmental niche” in which they can survive, thrive, prosper.

    Your editorial should end “Dayton has been talking about the need for the Republicans to compromise. The Republicans have come a long way from their beginning position. Now Dayton needs to step down off his stage, face reality, and sign the sensible budget sent up to him from the Legislature.

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