Feb 27 A Rebuttal to Neil Peterson’s STrib Editorial

Today Near Peterson (RINO – Bloomington) received a chance by the local DFL “news” paper, the Star Tribune, to explain to us why he decided to raise taxes on every man, woman and child in the State of Minnesota.Here are his comments.In each gave his “justification” for rising taxes along with all or part of his first following paragraph.

I supported the bill not because I believe in more taxation but because I believe in less.

A gas tax is a user fee, plain and simple, and for 20 years it has not been increased. This additional user fee will cost each of us less than a cup of coffee each month…

This is a classic liberal ploy.Because you don’t think that the users of the roads of Bloomington should pay for their roads by themselves, you have decided to spread the pain over the entire state.You claim that you believe in less taxes and yet you just raised the taxes of millions of people who don’t go to, and might never go to, Bloomington.You want more money for roads in Bloomington, might I suggest you look to the MOA, or Best Buy, or REI, or any number of large businesses that use the Bloomington roads, for your funding.Charge the people who actually use your roads to fund your roads.

I supported the bill because we have a slowing economy in our state.

People have suggested that an economic downturn is not the time for a bill like this. I believe it is the time. This bill will support thousands of jobs -- jobs with salary dollars that will stay in Minnesota…

Yet another liberal political ploy.ANY jobs that might be created are going to be government jobs or jobs completely dependant on government, which in turn continues the cycle of people trying to line their own pockets by raising taxes on people who actually produce something of value in this state.

Rep. Peterson, I also want to know about all of the jobs that are going to be lost now that costs of goods are going to have to go up to cover these taxes? These increased costs are going to decrease demand. Didn’t they teach this to you at Hastings College, where you got your B.A. in economics?

It has been proven time and time again, you want to stimulate the economy, you make permanent cuts taxes and create incentives for companies to grow, you don’t raise. Growing government is just wasteful, both short term and long term. Any real Republican knows this.

I supported the bill because of the recently released legislative auditor's report.

Legislative Auditor James Nobel used the words "downright grim" when looking at the current status of roads and bridges. In his testimony, he gave me no reason to question the talented men and women who are engineers and planners in the Department of Transportation (MnDOT)….

Fine, MnDot needs money, we all get that, but to get that money from an already overtaxed base, which is already in a recession, is beyond stupid. Instead the people expect our representatives, especially ones who claim to be Republican, to do the hard thing and find areas to make cuts in current spending. There are MILLIONS of dollars being wasted annually on toy trains that will do nothing to help stimulate our economy...starting there would have been a GREAT start.

I supported the bill because as a solo business owner, I know the reality of inflation.

Over the last three years, we have lost two opportunities to adequately fund road maintenance and construction. This is the third time that a transportation bill has been passed and vetoed. Over this same period, according to the auditor's report, the cost of construction has gone up almost 40 percent. It will continue to escalate, and a transportation bill will keep coming back, each time with a higher price tag, not to do more, but to do less. The reality is the old adage "pay now or pay more later." With this bill, I voted against inflationary increases for transportation.

Then I guess you should have worked harder to cut DFL redistribution of funds to bike trails quite some time ago and send them diverted road money back to the roads, huh? Now, because you were too much of a coward to do what was right then you are expecting the citizens on Minnesota, your employer, to pay for your mistake. Your employees don’t get to reach into your pocket when they need more money to fix a leaky roof or replace broken windows, and government can’t do that either. Living within your means is the only way to do things…but it seems that you have already forgotten that.

I supported the bill even though I wasn't crazy about the quarter-cent sales tax for transit.

I believe in public transit, and I know it is necessary with more than a million more people coming into the Twin Cities in the next decade. Except for the occasional trip on light rail, I don't use public transit on a daily basis, so I don't think about it as much. However, as a user of the freeways, roads and bridges, I need transit to exist and expand if I want to continue to drive without additional gridlock and wasted time. We need public transit to exist for persons who are aging and no longer drive. We need mass transit for cleaner air. With this bill, I supported transportation and the environment of our future.

Rep Peterson, you have been duped and are an idiot if you truly believe that this almost 7 billion dollar tax increase is going to do anything to expand the roads in the areas that they are need to keep the Minnesota economy going. Remember Rep. Peterson, because this bill raised all of our taxes, without changing the States funding formula, only 25% of the road funding will be spend here in the Twin Cities, the heart of the Minnesota economy.

I wish you nothing but luck in your business future, Rep. Peterson, because I suspect that your constituents are going to call you on the carpet for ignoring the will of the people…they people that you are suppose to be working for and not against.

Cross-posted at Anti-Strib. Comments welcome.