The Republican Surplus

Minnesota Management and Budget announced today that, notwithstanding original reports that today’s budget forecast was going to be a billion dollars light, today it was announced that the state is 876 million in the black.

Let’s be clear about something; we have this surplus because the state’s economy grew.  And it grew because Mark Dayton’s gigantistic spendthrift agenda was thwarted in the Legislature.

And the credit goes to two groups:

  1. Minnesota’s businesses, for hiring people (or at least hanging on and laying off fewer of them), keeping them working, and paying for that work.  I think it’s safe to say they did this because of the efforts of…
  2. The GOP-controlled legislature, for holding the line on the budget even as well as they did.  While – as the Strib notes – economists note we’re not out of the woods economically, especially because we are tied to the national and international macroeconomy, it could have been a lot worse.  (And with an 8,000 vote swing, it could have been a lot better, but we can’t cry over spilled milk).
Expect a couple of things in the two months before the session starts:
  • A lot of DFL gargling about how it’s not really a surplus, since it was “balanced on the backs of property taxpayers and the poor”. Call BS on that; property taxes are set by city councils and county commissions and school boards; Local Government Aid, our state’s redistribution of wealth from the parts of the state that don’t work by the parts that do, is getting reformed; cities and counties – mainly Minneapolis, Saint Paul and Duluth – are going to have to start justifying their waste with their own taxpayers, rather than laundering it through the state.  (Did you notice how the parts of the state that don’;t get LGA raised their taxes less than the parts that do?)
  • The Vultures will be coming out to feed.  Did I say “vultures?”  I meant “Vikings”.  Expect not a few Grain-Belt-addled weekend statists to say “Hey!  We got a billion bucks to spare!  Let’s build the stadium right now!”.  No.  No, a thousand times no.  Any Republican who puts Wilfare on the agenda is going to have at least one blogger slagging him and his entire anscestry until the 2012 election, and doing his best to lead a group line-dance on his or her political grave.

Let’s call this for what it is – a huge win by the Minnesota Legislative GOP Caucus, and for the Minnesota taxpayer.

Let’s make sure we Real Minnesotans spend the next 11 months making sure the rest of Minnesota understands that.

10 thoughts on “The Republican Surplus

  1. Careful Mitch…

    ….word on the street is that most of this bundle is due to Governor Kombucha’s early enrollment into BammyCare(C). So, if padding the state budget with US debt is something to be proud of, Dayton’s the man of the hour.

    The real fun for us will start in February, when every mangey public union hack, social service scam artist and assorted Wards of the State show up with their hands out.

  2. I hope some GOP staffers look hard at the MMB’s assumptions.

    I seem to recall that same department was projecting great numbers last February at the start of the legislative session but when their “massive economic growth” assumptions were challenged, the numbers turned to s**t and the GOP’s unwillingness to spend was justified.

    How rosy is the scenario that generated these numbers just before the start of the next legislative session?

  3. Governor Dayton said today something about raising taxes on millionaires. How ironic.

    Dayton is a millionaire many times over, but would not be affected by his proposed tax hike. Actually the tax hike would hit those who have high incomes according to IRS accounting.

    Dayton, hides his millions in tax-free South Dakota. Hard working small businessman would be hit though.

  4. Amusing article by Rachel S-B. She actually writes of the mythical “$5 billion deficit” as if it were real, not the DFL wish list for the next biennium.
    I wonder what happened to the bodies in the streets, the out of control house fires and roving gangs of thugs that were supposed to appear if Gov. Google’s big spending budget wasn’t passed? Down the memory hole, I guess.

  5. “roving gangs of thugs”

    Those actually materialized in the form of Government Center Plaza “occupiers.”

  6. The special interests’ maggots can scrounge all they want. Minnesota state law says surpluses are offlimits until the cash flow & budget reserve funds have been refilled.

    That’s the gospel spoken in Speaker Zellers’ e-letter.

  7. ” Any Republican who puts Wilfare on the agenda is going to have at least one blogger slagging him and his entire anscestry until the 2012 election, and doing his best to lead a group line-dance on his or her political grave.”

    Morrie Lanning, please pick up the purple courtesy phone.

  8. Dayton would likely not be affected by ‘raising income taxes on millionaires’. I think it was for 2009, his reported income from his various tax-sheltered trusts was only $177K or so.

  9. You missed one other point:

    “Let’s be clear about something; we have this surplus because the state’s economy grew.” — Mitch

    “Higher than anticipated final individual income tax liability for tax year 2010 was the source of much of the additional revenue.” — MMB

    Tell me how the 2011 Legislature can take credit for 2010 tax collections, or for growth during the first six months of 2011 (and last six months of FY11). And try to use actual numbers this time.

  10. charlieq said:

    “for growth during the first six months of 2011”

    Reason actual number 1: people realized that spendthrifts were on the outs in the legislature.

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