March 20-22, 2014
Mar 20 01:26 Defining a great place to work Mar 20 01:14 What's Franken's fix for this? Mar 20 01:19 Bakk caves on Tax Repair Bill Mar 20 01:11 NAACP & de Blasio: modern day bullies Mar 20 11:16 Taxes and the looming DFL civil war Mar 21 02:23 Al Franken's biggest problem Mar 21 11:35 Bakk criticizes Republicans for doing right thing Mar 22 02:10 The DFL's apologists Mar 22 09:17 The DFL's deceitful, dishonest tax cut rhetoric
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Defining a great place to work
The 12 Characteristics of a Great Place to Work
by Silence Dogood
If you perform a Google search for a "Great Place to Work", one of the links that comes up is for an article on a blog by Jeff Hilimire, which was posted on September 23, 2011. The article is entitled "12 Characteristics of a Great Place to Work." Who is Jeff Hilimire? Here is what Jeff says about who he is:
"I'm someone that's fascinated with entrepreneurship, startups, technology, the Internet and specifically mobile apps and gaming. I tweet, I LinkedIn, and I Instagram, but this blog represents who I am and where I am in life at any given time. In 1998, I founded my first company, Spunlogic, with some friends and, ten years later, we were acquired by Engauge in March of 2008. I then served as President and Chief Digital Officer of Engauge until we sold Engauge to Publicis Groupe in August of 2013. I then immediately started my next company, Dragon Army, a mobile-first game studio based in the Atlanta Tech Village."
For more on Jeff Hilimire, read the note at the end of this article.
It might be interesting to see how SCSU stacks up with Jeff Hilimire's list of 12 characteristics of a great place to work. According to the methodology from the GPTWI, "Organization: refers to the University as a whole. Management of the organization refers to the senior level members of the administration, including the President, Provost, and vice presidents." As a result, the questions for the "Organization" from the recently completed GPTW "Trust Survey" were placed under each of the appropriate 12 characteristics. The idea is that if these are characteristics of a Great Place to Work, we might be able to see from the data whether or not SCSU is really a great place to work (or not).
For all of the data, the red bar represents the average value for the 100 Best Companies in the 2014 survey. All of blue bars represent those completing the survey at SCSU. Where there are no red bars, the question was generated locally so the number must be interpreted without a comparison.
1. A clear vision and identity. Employees want to know where the company is pointed, what the company believes in and what everyone is working toward.
2. Honest Leadership
3. Provides 'flexible' growth for employees. As an employee of a company, you should have the ability to change career paths if you've proven you're a dependable, hard-working and passionate person.
4. A culture of collaboration. Collaboration creates better work, better results and better culture.
5. As little politics as possible. While politics are always going to happen in a work environment, great companies have very little of it and work hard to stomp it out when it creeps up.
6. Promotes meritocracy. Simply put, if you show that you are going to do great work, your career will grow accordingly.
7. Open communication. Great places to work are open about how the company is performing.
8. Craves honest feedback from its employees.
9. A fun atmosphere. I've always felt that if people are going to spend most of their waking week at the office, it should be a fun environment. When people are having fun, they work together better and they produce better work.
10. Filled with passionate people. Companies that only look at resumes and experience when hiring are far less successful (IMHO) than ones that hire people that are passionate about their work and the industry. I'll hire passion over experience any day.
11. Approachable leadership. The more people feel open to talking to their leadership, the more problems will get solved and the more job satisfaction people will have. It's one of the reasons that I prefer not to have an office.
12. A great environment. A fun, open, energetic and creative environment can make a big difference in the overall atmosphere of a company.
All of the questions in the GPTW survey may not have been exactly the same as the characteristics listed by Hilimire. However, many of the questions are "spot on" and others come pretty close. So the question is: "Is SCSU a Great Place to Work?" Based on the data from the GPTW "Trust Survey" and Hilimires's 12 Characteristics of a Great Place to Work, the answer is clearly NO!
However, the even bigger question is whether or not the current leadership of the university has the capability to move SCSU towards becoming a Great Place to Work. The answer to the question depends on whom you ask.
_____________________________
More on Jeff Hilimire: I'm a graduate of the 2013 Leadership Atlanta class and a member of the 2012 Atlanta 40 under 40 class. I'm also a founding member of the Shotput Ventures Team, a technology accelerator in Atlanta, and a part of the GA Tech incubator program, Flashpoint. I'm on the boards of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Venture Atlanta, Junior Achievement of Georgia and The Children's Museum of Atlanta. I'm also on the marketing advisory board for Zoo Atlanta. For a very personal look at who Jeff Hilimire is, check out what his partner had to say about him by following this link.
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:26 AM
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What's Franken's fix for this?
Since the disastrous rollout of the ACA, aka Obamacare, Al Franken has talked about how he's holding the Obama administration's feet to the fire over the website. Wind Al up. Listen to Al chant that mantra. Notice that Al hasn't talked about Obamacare's real problem, which is the bill itself. Thankfully, Elise Viebeck is writing about the problems that people will face this fall. Here's what she wrote in her post this morning:
Health industry officials say ObamaCare-related premiums will double in some parts of the country, countering claims recently made by the administration.
The expected rate hikes will be announced in the coming months amid an intense election year, when control of the Senate is up for grabs. The sticker shock would likely bolster the GOP's prospects in November and hamper ObamaCare insurance enrollment efforts in 2015.
The industry complaints come less than a week after Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sought to downplay concerns about rising premiums in the healthcare sector. She told lawmakers rates would increase in 2015 but grow more slowly than in the past.
'The increases are far less significant than what they were prior to the Affordable Care Act,' the secretary said in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee.
Her comment baffled insurance officials, who said it runs counter to the industry's consensus about next year. 'It's pretty shortsighted because I think everybody knows that the way the exchange has rolled out: is going to lead to higher costs,' said one senior insurance executive who requested anonymity.
Thanks to people staying away in droves, especially young people, insurance companies won't have a choice but to hike health insurance premiums. The Obama administration will blame the insurance industry for these rate spikes but they'll be lying when they claim that. The culprit behind the insurance premiums spiking will be the Obama administration and the Democrats in Congress. They're the politicians that passed a bill that virtually guaranteed people not buying insurance. When they wrote in the Essential Health Benefits provision, they mandated lots of foolish, counterproductive coverages that just raised premiums.
Sticking with his script, Franken won't talk about how premiums and deductibles are becoming unaffordable. Franken can talk all he wants about premium supports, aka subsidies, but those subsidies don't cover deductibles.
Another thing Franken won't talk about is his solution to this government-manufactured health care crisis. That's because he's hoping people don't notice that he doesn't have a solution for this government-manufactured crisis.
Perhaps most important, insurers have been disappointed that young people only make up about one-quarter of the enrollees in plans through the insurance exchanges, according to public figures that were released earlier this year. That ratio might change in the weeks ahead because the administration anticipates many more people in their 20s and 30s will sign up close to the March 31 enrollment deadline. Many insurers, however, don't share that optimism.
These factors will have the unintended consequence of raising rates, sources said. 'We're exasperated,' said the senior insurance official. 'All of these major delays on very significant portions of the law are going to change what it's going to cost.'
Sen. Franken's chanting points won't mean much when these premium spikes get announced. Minnesota's enrollment is better than most states but it isn't meeting expectations. In fact, that's understatement. This graphic shows how far off expectations MNsure is:
MNsure set its expectations at 69,904 people enrolled in QHPs, aka Qualified Health Plans. As of Feb. 8, 2014, 29,439 enrollments were "in process." That isn't enrolled and made the first payment. That's the number of people who've started the process. They might've sent in that first payment. They might not have. Even after artificially inflating the numbers, Minnesota still isn't half ways to meeting their initial expectation.
Sen. Franken, why aren't you focusing on the health care problem that's worrying most Minnesotans? In other words, why aren't you worried about fixing the problem of outrageous health insurance premium increases? Is it because that'd require repealing the ACA?
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:14 AM
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Bakk caves on Tax Repair Bill
According to this article , Sen. Tom Bakk folded like a cheap suit the minute his bluff was called. All it took was for Gov. Dayton to finally show a little leadership:
Hobbling on crutches, Gov. Mark Dayton made his first public appearance at the Capitol in five weeks Tuesday to blast fellow DFLers in the Legislature for holding up tax cuts for Minnesotans while they squabble over whether to build a Senate office building.
The issue apparently was resolved about 90 minutes after Dayton's verbal broadside when Senate Democratic-Farmer-Labor leaders announced they intend to pass the tax cuts the governor wants without any office building strings attached.
Debate on the Senate bill begins Wednesday morning in the Senate Tax Committee.
Dayton, who is recovering from hip surgery, said at a Capitol news conference Tuesday that he was "very, very, very disappointed" the DFL-controlled Legislature had not passed a tax bill.
Sen. Bakk's announcement means the House Rules Committee can reject Bakk's $90,000,000 office building and parking ramp project without hurting taxpayers. Sen. Bakk just folded like a cheap suit on his signature issue.
If Rep. Murphy and her committee approve Sen. Bakk's project, it'll be proof that they aren't fit for governing because they don't care about Minnesota taxpayers. They should have their gavels taken away with this November's elections if they approve Bakk's ill-advided project.
Predictably, Sen. Bakk insisted that he wasn't playing hardball:
A short time later, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, defused the dispute by proclaiming the Senate Tax Committee would hold hearings on its tax cut bill Wednesday and Thursday morning and the full Senate likely would vote on the measure later Thursday. "The Senate building is not in the bill," Bakk said.
The House passed its tax-cut bill March 6. Bakk said the Senate had always planned to pass its version by the end of March, after a review of the proposed changes. "There has been no delay," he said.
Right. Governors frequently and publicly criticize leaders of their own party.
Sen. Bakk has been rolled on this. Now he doesn't have any leverage to bargain with that'll force the House to approve his office building and parking ramp project. The only other bill that the DFL wants to pass is the bill raising the minimum wage. Sen. Bakk doesn't have any justification for holding that up. If he held the minimum wage bill hostage, he'd be ending his political career.
Playing hardball with that bill within an all-DFL legislature would end Sen. Bakk's time as majority leader and end any hope he'd have of running for governor. The activists might draw and quarter him if he tried that. It wouldn't be pretty.
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:19 AM
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NAACP & de Blasio: modern day bullies
If someone would've told you that the New York chapter of the NAACP and a hardline progressive mayor were siding with the teachers unions in preventing minority students from getting a good education, you'd think it was something from the Onion. Sadly, it isn't :
On March 17, 19 parents who send their children to Success Academy, a Harlem charter school, filed suit in federal court to stop New York Mayor Bill de Blasio from denying them previously arranged space in a public school building. Without space, their children and 173 others will not be able to continue at Success Academy this fall.
School bullying is a problem nationwide, but in New York the bullies are de Blasio and his pals - state NAACP President Hazel Dukes and teachers unions. Their targets are middle-school kids, 97 percent of them minorities, and 80 percent eligible for lunch assistance.
This shameful behavior is brought to you by the Bigot Wing of the Democratic Party. Don't confuse these bigots with well-intentioned liberals like Juan Williams . They're galaxies apart when it comes to education reform.
Juan Williams is fighting for education reforms that give every student the opportunity to live the American Dream. Part of his fight involves limiting teachers unions' influence on educational opportunities, especially for minorities.
Consider what another Success Academy called Bronx 2 is doing to educate minority students. In that charter school, 97 percent of students passed state exams in mathematics, and 77 percent passed English. In math, the school ranks third in the state, besting schools in well-heeled suburbs. Bronx 2 shares space with a district public school, where kids under the thumb of the union and city bureaucrats, are failing. Only 3 percent passed the state English test. Same building, but a world of difference. Which school is giving kids their civil rights? Not the one Dukes and de Blasio are defending.
I'd love hearing Mayor de Blasio's explanation on why he's insisting that minority students' only educational option is for failing schools. Smart policymakers would notice Bronx 2's successes and do everything possible to expand those opportunities for minority students. Shouldn't the NAACP be insisting that minority students be given the opportunity to excel in charter schools.
Instead, they're being held back. The NAACP and Mayor de Blasio should be ashamed of themselves. Additionally, they should be required to meet face-to-face with these parents and students to explain why they're being this hard-hearted.
Politically speaking, this is a fantastic opportunity for conservative school choice activists to explain why they're for expanding choice options. From a human standpoint, it's the perfect opportunity to explain why expanding educational options is a moral imperative.
Get ready for the bullies. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder sued to stop school choice in New Orleans, arguing that it was getting in the way of the federal government's 1975 court-ordered desegregation plan. When parents protested that they wanted to be the ones choosing their kids' schools, not the Department of Justice, Holder's lawyers told the court that parents lacked the standing to make their views known.
If anyone has standing in their child's education, it's parents. And parents in New Orleans said that racial balance was less important to them than being able to choose a school that educates their child. Ultimately, Holder had to give up.
Ultimately, this fight is about punching bullies like Eric Holder, Bill de Blasio and the NAACP in the nose. Negotiating with bullies doesn't work. Inflicting pain does. That's why the heroes in this fight are the parents and the activists who defiantly stand with them because it's the right thing to do.
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2014 1:11 AM
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Taxes and the looming DFL civil war
Based on this article , I've got to question whether the DFL is the united party that Twin Cities journalists, aka the DFL praetorian guard, would have us believe. Here's the latest information that suggests the DFL isn't the united party it's pretending to be:
Gov. Dayton made his first public appearance since undergoing hip surgery in February to voice his disappointment for Senate DFLers, who he claimed were holding a tax relief bill hostage unless their demands over a new building were addressed. 'The impasse is not around the tax bill,' Dayton said. 'It's about the legislative office building and the Senate's insistence that they have the building.'
But Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook denied allegations that his members were holding up millions of dollars. 'I don't believe it's been delayed any and I don't know how much faster we could've gotten this up to the floor than we're doing right now,' Bakk said.
That high-level back-and-forth between Gov. Dayton and Sen. Bakk over Sen. Bakk's precious office building is just the tip of the iceberg. Here's where the fight escalates:
Though he wasn't willing to provide names of which senators were holding up the bill, Dayton did state, 'The differences on tax policy are relatively minor and easily resolvable. It doesn't do justice for the people of Minnesota to be in the situation we're in now.
But House Speaker Paul Thissen of Minneapolis was willing to point fingers and right at Bakk . 'It became clear that Sen. Bakk thinks that including a Senate Office Building in the tax bill is the only way he's going to get his Senate Office Building done. We don't believe that is the case but that is where we are,' Thissen said.
The animosity between Sen. Bakk and Speaker Thissen is one of the worst-kept secrets at the Capitol. Simply put, they're enemies, not rivals. You can practically feel the joy Speaker Thissen felt in criticizing Sen. Bakk. This isn't just a little dispute. This is the start of a full-fledged war:
Addressing the Senate building accusations, Bakk did admit that he was 'disappointed' that the House hasn't made progress on the issue and assumed it was because House members wouldn't be impacted by the need for space. 'To think that the Senate is going to give up all this space and just be kicked out on the street . That's just not going to happen. And we just don't understanding why the House hasn't acted in some urgency,' Bakk said.
I'd say that someone needs a timeout for not playing well with others but that's just my opinion. Seriously, Sen. Bakk's mini-diatribe might indicate that he realizes he's just lost his biggest bargaining chip against the House in his quest for getting Bakk's Palace built.
That's before talking about the erupting fight between the Iron Range Democrats and the Metrocrats. Sen. Bakk represents the Iron Range while Thissen and Dayton represent the Metrocrats. Thanks to their differing opinions on PolyMet, a fight is about to break out on that issue:
'Clearly this opens up the clash and conflict between those DFLers who value the environment first, versus those who value jobs first. We will all have to answer the question, 'Whose side are you on?' Anzelc said. ' I think this issue has the potential to divide the DFL convention this summer. The table is set for Democrats running for statewide office to have a real challenging time of it in the '14 elections.'
This is one of those rare times when the Republicans' best strategy is to step to the side and watch the DFL fur fly. There's no sense interjecting one's self into a fight when your enemies are destroying each other.
It'll take some effort resolving to get Sen. Bakk on board with the DFL agenda after he's gotten shafted on his office building project. It'll take a minor miracle to unite the DFL considering the looming fight over PolyMet. This is shaping up to being a major food fight for the DFL.
It ain't gonna be pretty.
Posted Thursday, March 20, 2014 11:16 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 20-Mar-14 09:46 PM
Gary:
Just think while they are talking of doing tax cuts what is the House proposing another tax hike. This on average people and gasoline. You think if they just stopped funding useless mass transit projects they will have plenty of money for roads.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Al Franken's biggest problem
Lots of conservatives have ridiculed Al Franken about not being funny. They've criticized him for being a temperamental hard left lefty, too. While those are accurate, that isn't Franken's biggest problem. In fact, they're far from it. This WashPo article works overtime to make Franken sound like a serious legislator:
'He stays home and studies for the next day,' a staffer says. Franken is known for actually reading committee witness testimony and even digging into the footnotes, looking for holes or contradictions.
Wow. Al Franken has finally started taking his job seriously. Let's remember that he didn't attempt to read the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, aka the ACA. He just voted for that destructive bill because that's what Harry Reid and President Obama wanted him to do.
So like a good little puppet, Al Franken voted for a bill that's raised families' health insurance premiums and deductibles while shrinking families' networks. Sen. Franken abandoned families when they needed him the most.
While that's Al Franken's biggest mistake, that isn't the only time he's abandoned families. He's done nothing to help the hard-working people of the Iron Range because he's refused to lift a finger to make PolyMet a reality. That's because Franken is more worried about raking in max donations from his friends in Hollywood and other militant environmental activists.
These hard-line environmental activists don't take kindly to politicians they support voting for the Iron Range's blue collar workers. That's because they're most worried about their ideology. Worrying about hard-working families is well down their list of priorities, if it's there at all.
As for whether Al Franken is a serious legislator, I'll just post this video of Sen. Franken making a fool of himself while questioning Sonia Sotomayor during her confirmation hearings:
I'd submit that Sen. Franken isn't the serious man he's trying to portray himself as.
Posted Friday, March 21, 2014 2:23 AM
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Bakk criticizes Republicans for doing right thing
According tho this article , Gov. Dayton and Sen. Bakk are whining because Republicans refused to vote on a bill without knowing what's in it:
Dayton and DFL leaders have rushed to pass the measure to ensure the largest number of Minnesotans can take advantage of more than $50 million in retroactive tax relief by April 15. Senate DFLers used a rare procedure to try to speed passage by a day, but Republicans in the minority used their limited muscle to delay the vote until Friday.
Earlier in the week, Dayton chastised Senate DFLers for not passing the measure swiftly enough. On Thursday, Dayton and Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, joined together to direct their wrath at Republicans.
'There is no good reason for Senate Republicans to block the bill's passage,' Dayton said. If Republican legislators force any further delays, 'they will be solely responsible for denying income tax cuts to thousands of Minnesotans.'
Yesterday, Sen. Bakk whined that not getting his office building would leave the Senate homeless :
'To think that the Senate is going to give up all this space and just be kicked out on the street. That's just not going to happen. And we just don't understanding why the House hasn't acted in some urgency,' Bakk said.
Today, it's Gov. Dayton whining that the GOP said no to voting on a bill they haven't read. 'Trust me' won't cut it. The GOP has an affirmative obligation to know what they're voting for before voting on something. Senate Minority Leader David Hann summed it up perfectly:
"Just because Gov. [Mark] Dayton and the Democrats had a meltdown this week doesn't mean the Senate should set aside our rules and rush this important tax bill,' said Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie. ' There's an old saying: Failure to plan on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part .'
Sen. Bakk held the Tax Repair Bill hostage as a bargaining chip to get approval for his office building. That's why Gov. Dayton criticized him in a public press conference. Nos Gov. Dayton and Sen. Bakk are complaining that Republicans want to read the bill before voting on it.
Republicans did the right thing. The Tax Repair Bill got its first committee hearing Thursday morning. If the roles were reversed, isn't it likely that Sen. Bakk and Gov. Dayton would be whining about Republicans jamming legislation down the Democrats' throat without letting them read it?
Of course they'd be whining. In fact, they'd have a legitimate right to complain about that.
This is just Dayton's and Bakk's attempt to deflect attention away from Bakk's attempt to play a stall game to get his office building. Bakk was humiliated publicly for playing games with the Tax Repair Bill. Since then, he's been playing defense for playing political games.
This is what DFL 'leadership' looks like. First, the DFL plays political games. Next, people criticize the DFL for playing political games. When doing the right thing is the DFL's only option, they try playing games by not letting the Senate read the bill that they're supposed to vote on.
Finally, when Republicans insist on readng the bill before voting on it, the DFL 'leadership' whines that Republicans are holding up the legislation that Sen. Bakk didn't want to vote on until he got his Palace for Politicians. That isn't leadership. That's gamesmanship.
Posted Friday, March 21, 2014 11:35 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 22-Mar-14 11:42 AM
Gary:
The moral of the story isn't lawmakers suppose to read the bills before they vote on them let alone sign them. That's whats gotten Dayton into so much trouble these last three years. He should thank the Republicans for wanting to make everybody read the bills.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
The DFL's apologists
I just started watching Almanac's Roundtable but I had to stop and write about what panelists Heather Carlson, Mary Lahammer and Tom Scheck said. Frankly, what they said is insulting. They're disgraces to the reporting profession because they aren't telling the whole truth.
When Cathy Wurzer asked Heather Carlson if passing these tax cuts was politically necessary to the DFL, Ms. Carlson said it was. Scheck followed up by saying that it was because the DFL "just raised taxes by $2.1 billion dollars."
These aren't tax cuts. A tax cut is when you lower the rate at which something is getting taxed. For instance, if income is getting taxed at 7.85% by the state, a tax cut would be lowering that rate. If farm equipment repairs aren't subject to Minnesota's sales tax, then the legislature passes their a bill that subjects farm equipment repairs to the state's sales tax, then the legislature repeals the sales tax on farm equipment repairs, that isn't a tax cut.
That's returning things to where they were before the DFL legislature waged war on taxpayers. Another key portion of the Tax Correction Bill is tax conformity. That saves Minnesotans money but tax conformity is something that's typically the first bill passed each year.
The truth is that the DFL raised taxes because Sen. Bakk insisted on punishing farmers, telecommunication companies and warehousing businesses. That's where those B2B sales taxes came from. The truth is that the DFL raised other regressive taxes last year, too.
Now they're trying to portray themselves as tax cutters when they're really admitting that they raised taxes too much last year. What's disappointing is that media personalities like Carlson, Lahammer and Scheck are playing along with the DFL's storyline.
It's disappointing from the perspective that societies that don't get the whole truth make difficult decisions based on incomplete or faulty information. That's a recipe for disaster. It's also why the MSM is held in such low regard.
If Scheck, Lahammer and Carlson want to be DFL shills, that's their right. In that case, however, taxpayers should insist that funding for TPT and MPR be cut dramatically because taxpayers shouldn't pay for the DFL's operations. If MPR and TPT can't make it without taxpayer funding, that's tough. That's called the marketplace working perfectly.
The notion that MPR and TPT are the only real reporting outlets because they aren't owned by corporate interests is insulting. They're just as biased as Esme Murphy or Lori Sturdevant.
It's time Minnesotans raised hell on this. They're getting cheated by DFL spinmeisters pretending to be reporters. These reporters bought the DFL's storyline without hesitation. A reporter's job is to question people in authority. Carlson, Lahammer and Scheck apparently don't think that's part of their responsibility.
Posted Saturday, March 22, 2014 2:10 AM
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The DFL's deceitful, dishonest tax cut rhetoric
I wrote this post to highlight the Agenda Media's willingness to parrot the DFL's 'tax cut' rhetoric. Frankly, it's insulting intellectually to hear them say that the DFL is cutting taxes. A little history lesson will illustrate the intellectual emptiness of the DFL's claims.
Let's start with 2010, when voters swept in a class of reformers, giving Republicans majorities in the House and Senate. That group of legislators started with a $6,200,000,000 deficit. Gov. Dayton immediately proposed the biggest tax increases in Minnesota history.
When the February budget forecast came out, the projected deficit had 'dropped' to $5,030,000,000. Immediately, Gov. Dayton took several proposed tax increases off the table. Here's a list of Gov. Dayton's tax increases :
Taxes: Largest Increase in History; Highest Rate in Nation -
New fifth tier of 13.95% for anyone earning over $500,000.
New fourth tier of 10.95% for single earning $85,000 or married filing jointly earning $150,000.
State property tax on Home Values over $1 million.
Closing Corporate and other Loopholes
Health Care Surcharges including the Granny Tax.
Other Tax Revenues including a car rental tax to help fund Minnesota tourism.
No complete payback of K-12 shift until 2023.
Spending: A 22% Increase
When the dust settled after the Dayton Shutdown, taxes weren't raised. As a result, Minnesota's economy rebounded. When the DFL took over the legislature, Gov. Dayton again proposed huge tax increases. He did this despite the fact that the projected deficit had dropped to $600,000,000. That's quite the difference from the $6,200,000,000 deficit Republicans inherited.
Despite the tiny deficit, Gov. Dayton and the DFL proposed $2,400,000,000 in tax and fee increases. Gov. Dayton and the DFL included new business-to-business sales taxes in its 'tax reform' package. They also included increased LGA, allegedly to provide property tax relief.
Immediately, the business community criticized the B2B sales taxes and the income tax increases. Quickly, Gov. Dayton and the House DFL dropped those tax increases. The Senate DFL refused to play along with that. The Tax Bill that House and Senate Democrats voted for and that Gov. Dayton signed included those B2B tax increases along with money for Sen. Bakk's Legislative Office Building.
Fast forward to this week. Gov. Dayton criticized Sen. Bakk for playing games with what I'm calling the DFL's Tax Repair Bill. As a result, Sen. Bakk caved and eventually passed the Tax Repair Bill.
When a thief plunders a home, taking jewelry, high tech electronics and kitchen appliances, that's a theft. If the thief returns the kitchen appliances, it's still a theft. Similarly, raising taxes, then repealing a tiny portion of those taxes still means that the DFL raised taxes.
The reality is that Minnesota families will have a greater percentage of their paychecks confiscated because of the Dayton-DFL tax increases than they paid when this legislature was sworn in. That's the verifiable reality.
Whether Heather Carlson, Mary Lahammer and Tom Scheck parrot the DFL's chanting points, the plain truth is that Gov. Dayton and the DFL have raised taxes on every Minnesotan since taking office in 2013. No amount of tap-dancing by the DFL and the Agenda Media will change that.
Posted Saturday, March 22, 2014 9:17 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 22-Mar-14 11:38 AM
Gary:
Lets not forget that Wisconsin didn't do tax increases and they have a large surplus.
Ohio didn't do tax increases and they have a large surplus.
Texas doesn't have a state income tax and they have great growth not to mention a large surplus.
The DFL has tried to claim that they have put the state fiscal house in order by doing tax increases. That's an out right lie!!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
