Minnesotans to governor: raise taxes, cut spending

A new Minnesota Poll shows that 57% of Minnesotans want the budget balanced by a combination of tax increases and spending cuts. Only 30 percent say that taxes should not be raised. More than one third of people say that they have been hurt by budget cuts.

What is interesting to me is the crosstabs on the data. Contrary to what may be expected, people with higher incomes were more likely to support increasing taxes, and those with incomes less than $30,000 were the most opposed to increasing taxes. I don't know what to make of that. Perhaps recent talk of a gas tax increase, which hits people at lower incomes hardest, has affected that. Or, people have seen that in recent years, taxes have gone up, especially property taxes, and they assume that "increasing taxes" means increasing these regressive taxes that much more, instead of income taxes on the highest earners.

As always, individual comments are best, showcasing endemic ignorance. From Frank Weber, who leans Republican: "Light rail, for instance, costs an arm and a leg. It's not profitable and probably never will be." Hmmm. I don't know how anybody could get the impression that light rail or any transit system would actually turn a profit.

Diane Peterson, who considers herself to be a Democrat, isn't much better: "We give too many people a free ride in this state. All the homeless people come here because the benefits are so great. I know people who won't work full time because they'd lose medical assistance for the four children they had by four different fathers. Minnesota takes care of them all, because we're a bunch of idiots. We've got a handout for everyone."

Ask people who have been affected by budget cuts in recent years and they will tell you that Minnesota definitely does not have a handout for everybody. As for the health care issue, it's a no brainer: if you have four kids, are you going ot work a minimum-wage job with no benefits and pay 70% of your salary for daycare, or are you going to keep your health insurance? The problem isn't that we have a "handout" for people in this situation, the problem is that we don't have universal health care so people don't have to make job decisions based on whether they will get health insurance or not.

As I was riding the bus home yesterday (I am sure that Metro Transit does not turn a profit, BTW), I overheard a couple of people talking about this very issue. One person apparently works in a day-care facility taking care of children but does not get health insurance. She applied for Minnesota Care, but since she is single and without kids, she isn't sure she can get it, especially if Pawlenty gets his way with changing eligibility requirements. Her friend didn't bother applying because he made too much money for the program, though this "high-paying" job didn't provide any benefits either.

Minnesotans have consistently said over the past few years that they want a balanced approach to the budget. Pawlenty and House Republicans have so far kept this from happening. Will they do so again?