Jul 25 Dane Doubles Down

Dane Smith is back with an opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribue. He admits that, well, yes, things are kind of messed up right now, but hey, if we just "Think Big" we can again make Liberalism work in Minnesota.

In [...] Minnesota's still vibrant civic engagement community, innovative ideas are being generated about ways to save money, to make health-care [sic] and education systems work better, to reinvest in human capital and infrastructure.

"Reinvest in" of course means "spend still more on." You can also infer that while Growth & Justice which Smith heads is a member in good standing of this "civic engagement" community, Phil Krinkie and Craig Westover are persona non grata.

Smith lists a number of the ideas that community has generated, starting with:

On health care, why not combine the purchasing power of our state and local governments for a "total-cost-of-care" package deal, one that pays health providers for public health objectives reached, saving as much as $1 billion annually?

Why not? Because one size doesn't fit all and because even if it saves the $1 billion, those savings will not find their way back to the taxpayers. Moving on:

In education, why not impose a strict "what works" screen to every additional dollar we invest in public education, and get ruthlessly focused on increasing our higher-education attainment rate by 50 percent over the next 10 years?

"What works?" "Ruthlessly focused?" "LOL!" Seriously, the key word is "additional" - the baseline will not be questioned. They'll only be responsible with the new money. But here's the big idea that prompted this post:

For our chronic revenue shortages, why not begin repealing more than 200 special tax breaks and exemptions in Minnesota law, many of which have crept in as a result of interest-group politics? These "tax expenditures'' -- such as sales tax exemptions on lawn care and clothing and legal bills -- cost the state $11 billion annually.

The point of view is breathtakingly myopic. We're short on revenue, not long on spending. And we're chronically short, meaning frequently and frustratingly. "Habitally" might be a more accurate word. But let's get to those tax breaks that have crept in, like the sales tax clothing exemption that was there from the start in Minnesota. Just eliminate them and we go from a $6 billion biennial deficit to a $16 billion biennial surplus. We'll need that to cover the unintended consequences of such folly.

For just who does Dane Smith think will pay that $11 billion? Corporations? Tourists? President Obama? No, we will, of course, over $2,000 per capita, nearly $10,000 a year for a family of four. But there I go, thinking this is our money again. These tax breaks don't let us keep our own money, they "cost the state" money.

At the end, Smith quotes Sean Kershaw of the Citizens League: "We're at the point where more of the same is just not going to cut it in Minnesota." True enough. But what Dane Smith advocates is just that, doubling down on what got us into this mess.

Cross-posted and comments welcome at Speed Gibson.