$2 billion surplus in (MInn)state budget

Minneapolis StarTribune (aka The Red Star) ^ | 11/29/06 | Brian Bakst - AP Reporter

[MplsSteve]

Minnesota finance officials expect the state treasury to run a $2.17 billion surplus through June of 2009.

That includes a projected surplus of $1.038 through June of next year, and $1.132 billion for the following two years.

"We've got some pretty good news here,'' Finance Commissioner Peggy Ingison said before she outlined the numbers at a Capitol news conference Wednesday.

The economic report details tax and spending patterns. The news means GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty and a Legislature now in DFL hands will have extra money to devote to schools, public health care programs and, maybe, tax cuts.

[RSmithOpt]

I'll lay you 2 to 1 odds that it'll be spent, squandered, stolen by New' Year's Day 2007 courtesy of your state legislature.

Same thing happened in NC in the spring this year for almost the same amount. The General Ass'y had it spent in 2 months. Now the state has another $1.1 Bln surplus and guess what?

State has big budget surplus - Much likely to go to urgent concerns Link is to Liberal local Dem editorialized LSM newspaper.

[Minnesocold]

Jason Lewis will probably host another Tax Rebate Rally at the Capitol. I'm in.

[MplsSteve]

I've only known as few Minnesota farmers - but many of them are anything but Democrat.

A good share of Minnesota's GOP legislative members came from rural districts.

Minnesota farmers are pretty independent and traditionalist. There's a few areas in Minnesota where the farmers tend to lean DFL (far western part of the state as well as the Red River Valley)but most are GOP.

But these same farmers love their subsidies and will turn on anyone who remotely threatens to cut it or take it away.

[AmericanChef]

It's never enough. Never. And we'll never see the new taxes go to roads. Never! They use the roads (or lack of them, rather) to keep sucking money from us when they've spent all the good money on their socialist causes. "We need more money for roads!" Ya, OK, then, we had money, so where did they spend it?

[miliantnutcase]

The farmers love their government subsidies to plant nothing.

[cibco]

State sales tax 6.5%. Tobacco tax out of this world. They should have a surplus.

No rebates. Just lower taxes and fix the roads.

I came from a state(CO) that had a 2.6% state sales tax and they managed just as well as MN, if not better. What is going on here?

[Rakkasan1]

what's going on is 1/3 of the budget goes to education.
state average is $10.5 K /pupil.

[cibco]

$10.5k? OMG!

[napscoordinator]

I think this is from Jesse's time in the Governor's Office. /sarc.

[DManA]

The shocking thing is that that's only 3% of the total budget.

[Rakkasan1]

.50 cents(after taxes)

[jim_trent]

When I left the State of Minnesota between 20 and 25 years ago, the State Income tax was right at 50% of the Federal Income tax. I moved to a different state that had a State Income tax that was 18% of the Federal tax. It has since gone up here to about 25%, but other taxes have gone up more (particularly real extate taxes). I shudder to think what it has become like in Minnesota, though.

More importantly than taxes was that the housing cost was about 1/2 to 2/3 that of Minnesota at that time. The difference was because of a Minnesota law. They had a limit (a cap) on the interest rate for mortgages. After the rates climbed above that, no one could build or buy a house unless they could pay cash. I actually remember a bank saying (with a straight face) that they still offered mortgages -- provided you put down a 90% down payment. I know because I was looking for my first house at the time. I seem to remember the limit was around 7-1/2% to 8%.

Anyway, after several years of virtually no new housing, the cost for existing housing skyrocketed. I moved, bought a house (easily), and have never looked back.

[mikethevike]

Lower property taxes would be nice.

[Hunble]

Thank every smoker that you know; because they paid for this surplus in their cigarette "fees" this year.

[KurtZ]

I live in the extreme northwestern corner of Minnesota, and almost all the farmers up here are DFL's. The reason is they get so many handouts from the DFL, it'll make you sick.

It's actually quite comical. Last summer I witnessed a meeting of the local farmers who got together to come up with a plan to lobby the State for disaster aid after multiple tornado's tore up some fields the previous summer. The parking lot was filled with 30-some brand new pickup trucks. The oldest one was two years old. So basically they got together to complain that a few of them were so bad off, they weren't sure if they could upgrade to the new model truck that year.

Another farmer I know just built a mansion (literally) with the money he saved from Farm Aid. You see, he took out multiple loans to buy up hundreds of acres of land, and through various government programs, all of his loans were forgiven.

Another guy I know doesn't even farm, but he gets paid by the government thousands of dollars each year to store 2 year old grain in multiple grain bins on his property.

[LiveFreeOrDie2001]

Give me MY MONEY back !!!

Then lower the tax rate in this politically messed State I live in.

[Valin]

I guess I'll not be getting that Lamborghini I had my eye on.

[jim_trent]

Thanks for the additional information. I did not know farmers in Minnesota. Although I don't know that many in Nebraska, I recognise that the Republicans here do strongly defend farmers handouts. So in that respect, the DFL and Nebraska Republicans are the same. Luckily, the same Republicans also support the 2nd Amendment and other things I think are important. I don't remember the DFL doing that, even a quarter of a century ago.

[MplsSteve]

The hand-outs are a huge part of why some farmers turn DFL.

But there's also a DFL tradition in parts of the Red River Valley.

It goes back to the early 20th Century when the Non-Partisan League got its start in North Dakota. For some reason, the wheat farmers in the Valley were really attuned to their issues.

Once the NPL fell apart, these farmers eventually linked up with another political group that promised them what they wanted...the Farmer-Labor Party.

I have a hard time criticizing farmers. It's very hard work and they are the most productive in the world when it comes to feeding us. But many of them are severely stuck on the crop set-asides and subsidies they get.

[Rakkasan1]

nope. and the MN budget is up 37% since 2000
and spending has doubled in the past decade...