Minnesota’s budget deficit: Poll shows Minnesotans want lower taxes

Today, my colleague Martha Njolomole and I presented in front of the House Ways and Means Committee. Our presentation was titled “Minnesota’s looming budget deficit: Tax hikes are not an option” and explained how we went from a forecast state government budget surplus of $18 billion for the 2024-2025 biennium to a forecast deficit of $3.5 billion in the 2028-2029 biennium, or $5.1 billion if you account for inflation.

Understandably, perhaps, if you’re responsible for this mess you won’t appreciate people pointing it out. Consequently, there were a number of outbursts from members of the committee which did little to address the question of how the state might solve this fiscal problem.

The weirdest came from Rep. Klevorn (DFL), who seemed not to realize that the point of the committee is to discuss the state’s budget, not that of Center of the American Experiment. If she had spent the time she spent scrutinizing our 990 forms scrutinizing state budget documents instead, we might have seen a useful contribution. In 2023, Rep. Klevorn was chair of the State and Local Government Finance and Policy committee — the committee charged with overseeing state and local government finance — when the ever more expensive paid family and medical leave scheme sailed through without a fiscal note. Faced with the consequences of such gross fiscal irresponsibility, you can, as I say, understand the desire to deflect.

I will address some of the other outbursts in the coming days, but we ought to remember — because there are those who wish to obscure it — that this situation, however painful, is, in its essence, very simple: Is Minnesota’s state government going to close its looming budget deficit with spending cuts or tax hikes?

Last week, KSTP reported:

At some point after the Minnesota House settles its political stalemate, legislators will start focusing on issues. When they do, lawmakers will find that Minnesotans want them to focus on lowering taxes, addressing health care and stopping fraud in state government spending, according to the latest KSTP/SurveyUSA poll.

“You are getting a public reaction against tax increases,” said Carleton College political analyst Steven Schier after reviewing the survey results. “Now Republicans hope they can use that and ride that through the legislative session and into the next election as a winning issue for them.”

When asked to name what they consider to be the most important issue facing Minnesota lawmakers, 25% said “lowering taxes,” making it the single most mentioned top issue in the survey…

The answer of Minnesotans to our question is clear: Not only do they not want taxes to go up, they actually want them to come down.

This represents a significant problem for the DFL. The conduct of some of their number today shows that they are not yet ready to face it. At some point, they will have to wake up, acknowledge the situation, and join the rest of us in working for a solution. Let us hope that today’s primal scream therapy is the beginning of that process.