The Taxpayers Legaue of Minnesota

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 17, 2007

Contact: David Strom

Ph: (651) 294-3590

Legislature Should Follow Pawlenty on Taxes and Spending

There is lots of talk of bipartisanship, let’s see the action

St Paul—Governor Pawlenty’s State of the State address outlined the Administration’s main focus for the 2007 Legislative Session, and for the most part it looked pretty good for taxpayers.

Pawlenty called for tax relief—in stark contrast with the numerous proposals floating around the Legislature for increases in taxes—and again proposed limiting the size of tax and spending increases at the local level.

Property tax increases have been a major sore spot for taxpayers, and Pawlenty’s proposal to put the brakes on local taxes and spending dovetails nicely with a lot of the rhetoric coming from the newly elected DFL majorities, but so far has received little support from Democrat legislators.

“The message on taxes and spending from Pawlenty was simple and clear: taxpayers deserve good value for their dollars, not just demands from government to keep sending bigger and bigger checks in. I hope that the ‘new spirit of bipartisanship’ means that the new Democrat majorities accept Pawlenty’s call to resist new tax increases,” said David Strom, President of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota.

“Pawlenty hit the nail on the head with his education proposals as well. Our K-12 system needs an overhaul to make it more relevant to the 21st Century. I applaud the Governor’s focus on improving our education system, not just increasing the funding for the system as it exists. We need better results, not more expensive results,” said Strom.

The Taxpayers League wasn’t thrilled with every aspect of the speech. Strom is very skeptical that Minnesota State Government is equipped to change the world’s energy sources, and is afraid that the promises being made in some quarters are not backed up with adequate understanding of the science or economics of energy.

“Overall, I would say that Pawlenty’s speech does a good job of outlining parameters for the Legislative Session. Let’s hope that when Legislators speak of bipartisanship they don’t only mean that conservatives fold to liberal demands,” Strom concluded.

The Taxpayers League is Minnesota’s largest taxpayer advocacy organization.