(Editor’s Note: The following article was submitted to the Patriot by Rep. Shane Mekeland’s office).

I strongly oppose a House Democrat push to raise taxes by billions of dollars on Minnesotans, especially at a time of vast state surplus. 

My rebuke follows the House Democrats’ recent release of a tax bill which includes $1 billion in new taxes and a transportation bill which raises taxes and fees by $1.5 billion over the next four years. This includes a gas tax increase ($363 million over four years) by linking Minnesota’s gas tax to the Highway Construction Cost Index. This would result in an automatic annual inflationary gas tax increase. 

Minnesota has a surplus of more than $4 billion, when including federal dollars, yet House Democrats want people to have to pay more to drive to work. While the majority likes to say ‘tax the rich,’ their proposed increases would hit Minnesotans of all income levels. Furthermore, this comes at a time people are looking to dig out of the financial hole caused, in part, from restrictions the governor placed on them resulting in lost income. We don’t need to raise taxes to balance our budget or to take care of one of our most basic functions of government in transportation. 

In addition to raising the gas tax, House Democrats also propose a tax increase to fund light rail and other transit ($916 million over four years), a motor vehicle sales tax increase ($120 million over four years), a registration tax increase ($149 million over four years) through changes to vehicle depreciation schedules, and luxury vehicle registration tax increases ($10.7 million over four years).  

If House Democrats want to raise the metro sales tax by half a percent, they should use that money to rebuild from the arson, rioting and looting that was allowed to happen in the Twin Cities last summer instead of pouring it into trains at a time fewer and fewer people are riding. I oppose this tax increase either way, but at least House Democrats could try to put it toward something more worthwhile such as the metro area fixing its mess.

The House Democrat tax bill also raises taxes by more than $1 billion, while failing to fully protect businesses from Paycheck Protection Program tax hikes on forgiven loans. Minnesota remains the only state in the Upper Midwest that has yet to exempt these emergency loans from state taxes.

As of now, the very same state government that forced Minnesota businesses to close their doors, leaving many with no choice but to accept federal emergency loans to keep workers on the payroll and stay afloat, now could be profiting off the hardships of others.. That is just plain sickening, the kind of thing that causes people to sour on government. The good news is the majority’s budget plan is so detached from reality that it stands no chance of enactment as-is and, at some point, they will have to get serious about a plan that can pass. 

It is time to acknowledge tax increases are absolutely unnecessary to balance the budget and, in fact, we should be taking the opposite approach by relieving the already excessive tax burden the state has placed on families and workers in our state. If there ever were a time people needed some breathing room to get their financial feet back under them, this is it.