Comment on State of the State Address
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mike Hickey, Minnesota State Director, 651-235-7401, [email protected]
ST. PAUL, Minn., April 4, 2019—The following comment on Gov. Tim Walz’s State of the State Address last night was issued by Mike Hickey, NFIB’s Minnesota state director.
“Governor Walz’s positive and inspirational speech was enjoyable for everyone to hear last night and really stresses the point why can’t Minnesota legislators work together better and get along better in the nation’s only divided state legislature. The problem is his budget and tax proposals really drive a wedge between him and the small business community and other major players in Minnesota’s economy.
“He has proposed a significant increase in already high state spending, bringing our two-year budget almost to the brink of $50 billion! This is an 8.5 percent increase for fiscal years 20-2021 and far exceeds the current rate of inflation which was approximately 1.5 percent for 2018. To accomplish this excessive spending, the governor is proposing a $1.26 billion tax increase along with using the current large surplus.
“He proposes raising corporate taxes $613 million and raising taxes from pass-through companies, which are mostly small businesses, by $261 million. The governor is offering, for the most part, the negative side of tax conformity, proposing that we conform to several base-broadening provisions that will limit or take deductions away from businesses when they need them the most and provides very few of the benefits of the new federal tax law
“In the transportation area, his gas tax increases are dramatic! He proposes a whopping 20-cents-per-gallon increase over the next two years, a 70 percent increase, and worse yet wants to put an automatic inflator on it guaranteeing Minnesotans will have close to the highest gas tax forever! Just the increase alone will move Minnesota from 28th highest to 4th highest. This gas tax increase will drive up cost for a variety of small businesses that require their employees to be mobile and drive company vehicles every day as part of providing services or products for their customers. The impact on the trucking industry will be devastating.
“Unfortunately, he doesn’t stop with that. He is also proposing increasing the motor vehicle sales tax and registration fees on automobiles in an apparent effort to raise as much revenue as possible.
“In a high tax, uncompetitive state such as Minnesota, all of this is a large dose of bad news for small businesses that need relief from Minnesota’s uncompetitive taxes, not a pile on. Small-business owners will be reaching out to members of the House and the Senate and providing strong opposition to many of these proposals. Hopefully, significant compromises can be made that will fund our state government but not make us more uncompetitive than we already are.”
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For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
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