ST. PAUL — A day after unveiling a budget proposal that includes a $2.8 billion income tax hike on wealthier Minnesotans and increased spending on K-12 education, Gov. Mark Dayton was scheduled to tout the plan today in Rochester.
Dayton’s budget seeks to erase the state’s projected $6.2 billion budget deficit through a combination of tax increases and roughly $1 billion in spending cuts. It also boosts spending on K-12 education for all-day kindergarten while at the same time protecting state aid to cities and counties from state aid cuts.
Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede is slated to join Dayton during his visit this afternoon and said he is thrilled to see no cuts to Local Government Aid in the governor’s budget proposal. Since 2003, he said the city has absorbed $39 million in state aid cuts. Dayton is hopscotching the state today to talk about the plan.
"Certainly at this point we’re pleased," Brede said. "He held to his campaign promise."
But Republican legislative leaders will also visit Rochester today in a statewide tour arguing that the governor’s proposed tax increases would be the largest in state history and have a devastating impact on Minnesota’s business climate.
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Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said he was shocked at the level of tax increases included in the governor’s budget at a time when the state’s economy is struggling.
"At a time when we are trying to create a job-friendly environment in Minnesota, this seems to go entirely the other way, and I would have thought the governor would have been more sensitive to the business climate issue," Senjem said.
Dayton says his tax increase proposals would not affect 95 percent of Minnesotans and will make the state’s tax system more fair. He said he believes these revenue increases are needed to protect the state’s most vulnerable residents.
He added, "I am not willing to make barbaric cuts in the essential services that affect people’s lives. And others who want to go deeper into cuts then I propose will have to justify their decisions."
