By Rod Grams, Chairman

No Constitutional Tax Increase Campaign

Another $60 per year in taxes may not sound like much, but when you add it on top of higher gas taxes, license taxes, property taxes, ballpark taxes, and transit taxes, it’s an additional tax burden Minnesotans don’t need.

The Constitutional Amendment to increase the state sales tax by 3/8ths of a percent will cost Minnesotans an additional $300 million per year in taxes for the next 25 years, which will total over $11 billion dollars.  The Minnesota Department of Revenue calculates that the additional tax will cost almost $60 each year for the average Minnesotafamily.

According to the non-partisan Tax Foundation, Minnesotans already pay over $4600 per capita in state and local taxes.  With the cost of everything from gas to groceries going up, should we be paying even more in taxes for things like the arts and cultural heritage?  While the proponents of this tax increase will try to scare voters by talking about polluted water and the loss of woodland, the fact is that our state and local governments currently spend hundreds of millions of our tax dollars every year to protect our drinking water and enhance our natural environment.  This money will be slush fund on top of what we already spend.

The real question about this constitutional tax increase is why it is on the ballot in the first place.  The legislature didn’t let us vote on the ballpark tax.  We didn’t get to vote on the transit tax.  We didn’t get to vote on the gas tax.  Why do we get to vote on a tax increase for arts and outdoor recreation?  The simple answer is that the only way the special interest groups that support this tax increase can be guaranteed that all of the $11 billion will be spent on their pet projects is to have the tax revenue dedicated through an amendment to the State’s Constitution.

The original purpose was only to dedicate a small portion of the existing sales tax revenue, but this idea failed year after year to gain enough legislative support to become law.  After years of stalemate at the Capitol, outdoor dedicated funding supporters took an old cliché and gave it a new twist:  “If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em off.”  So that’s what they did.  The outdoor recreation folks bought off the arts and cultural heritage supporters by crafting an $11 billion pork barrel spending program that calls for a 3/8 sales tax increase.  With over $2 billion in tax revenue going to the arts and cultural heritage, the bill gained enough votes to pass the legislature, You can bet that each of the 300 special interest groups that support this tax increase expect to get a piece of the pie.

This is the most dangerous aspect of this tax increase scheme.  If this sales tax increase passes, it will set a precedent for the future.  Soon other special interest groups will go to St. Paul with their own request for a dedicated revenue source.  And that means more dedicated tax increases on the ballot in the future.

We elect a legislature to decide the spending priorities of the state’s revenue sources based on public opinion and priorities set by our governor and elected representatives.  This amendment will lock in $11 billion for special interest group spending for 25 years.  There is no way that future legislatures can change the spending allocations in this amendment or adapt to changing budget priorities in the future. 

The proposed Constitutional tax increase is not about whether we need additional spending for clean water, wildlife habitat or the arts.  It is about how this state is governed and if special interest groups can receive funding for their pet projects through an $11 billion sales tax increase placed on the backs of Minnesotans who already pay too much in taxes.