WILL THE LAST ONE LEAVING
MINNESOTA TURN OUT THE LIGHTS
Here in Minnesota it’s May 3rd, and we are having another snow storm. Since returning from Florida in early April we have had snow storms each week of 8, 10 and 11 inches. It’s been so cold my wife has admonished me at least twice daily that we should have stayed in Florida longer.
Meanwhile, in the teeth of this inclement weather our liberal governor has proposed a big tax increase that is bound to drive people away. Liberals are pushing for a 4% state income tax increase to 13%. That would mean 54% would be taken out of a big earner’s paycheck for state and federal taxes. A liberal legislator remarked, “We have to raise taxes on the wealthy in order to create jobs.” In other words take capital away from the people who create jobs and give it to bureaucrats to create jobs. To think that politicians with such convoluted viewpoints even exist boggles the mind. Unfortunately, economic ignorance is a hallmark of the left.
I wrote a letter to the editor of the Minneapolis newspaper belaboring the damage done by high taxes. They didn’t publish it but here it is anyway.
From Minnesota to Maine high tax northern states are stagnating while southern states are getting richer. The low tax state of Texas creates more jobs than all the northern states combined. Florida with no state tax is gaining population, jobs and great wealth.
The proposed 4% tax gouging of the productive rich in Minnesota will in the long run reduce revenues. It will cause bitterness, a flight to other states and a further reduction in our population of entrepreneurs. No state can afford to lose even one of these rare individuals (think of losing a Gates or a Jobs).
A tax hike will cause the people who create jobs to avoid Minnesota like the plague. This is not the winter to raise taxes on people who already have 50% of their paycheck taken for state and Federal income tax. Bad winters and exorbitant taxes will prove to be a disastrous combination for Minnesota’s economy.
Our governor recently appeared to give a speech in a local suburb. He was treated with derision. His name is Mark Dayton. He has never had to work because he inherited a fortune from his grandfather who founded Dayton’s department stores. They in turn founded the Target discount chain. For awhile Mr. Dayton was married to a Rockefeller heiress. Mr. Dayton served as a U.S. Senator and was roundly excoriated for incompetence.
Somehow our state had the bad luck of acquiring him as governor. He promotes all the liberal causes and never deviates from a leftist agenda. When he’s not beating the drum for global warming, unionization and additional welfare spending he’s fond of saying “the rich must pay their fair share!” It makes your blood boil.
Like so many pompous Minnesotans, the Governor thinks that our state is the premier place on earth to live and nobody would ever leave.
However, people are leaving for high paying oil jobs in North Dakota and Florida gains affluent Minnesotans all the time. Most of the people I know despise the governor and believe he will prove ruinous to the business community and the state. When liberals get the upper hand things can go to hell in a hurry. You can see it in major cities like Chicago and Detroit. The liberal agenda is the blueprint for national ruin. It can also ruin a liberal state like Minnesota
