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| Minnesota Kansas |
Just in case you didn’t read this in the news, in 2010 the people of Minnesota elected a Democratic Governor, Mark Dayton, an heir to the Target fortune. Gov. Dayton raised income taxes on individuals making more than $150,000 a year, and on couples earning more than $250,000. He also began raising the State minimum wage, it will reach $9.50 an hour in 2018.
I am sure that at the time, some said, “You can’t raise taxes on the Job Creators or force them to pay employees more! The Corporations and small business owners will stop hiring, shut down, and then move away!!”
However, what they saw in Minnesota was an increase in tax revenue, an increase in employment, and an increase of the median income. Not only did the richest citizens not move away, the improving economy has increased the number of tax payers in the $150,000 + tax bracket. The state has a $1 Billion budget surplus as of January 2015. The Governor is going to apply one third of the surplus to public education. That’s right, an increase in school funds. Minnesota also set up a State exchange under the Affordable Care Act and they expanded Medicare to make health insurance available to the poorest of it’s citizens. (Which cost the state $0).
Compare those facts to what you have read in the news. The State of Kansas stopped collecting taxes on it’s richest citizens, it has refused to increase wages for the lowest earning citizens. Budget deficits are forcing the State to delay/renege on pension promises made to employees. Funds intended for highway projects are being detoured to cover budget shortfalls. Expenses once covered by the State are being shifted to local governments who have had to raise property taxes. Public education funds that were promised are being sliced in the middle of the school year. Some Kansans who had no healthcare coverage were able to buy coverage through the Federal exchange, but the refusal to expand Medicaid has left some of our fellow citizens in a black hole of health insurance; too rich for Kansas Medicaid but too poor for subsidized coverage.
During the last election Sam Brownback said that the “Sun is shining in Kansas, don’t let anyone tell you different.” Well, facts are telling us that the sun IS shining, but apparently in Minnesota. Here, not so much.
