Frank Hornstein: tax hikes might be coming

Frank Hornstein, the DFL chairman of the House Transportation Committee, hinted that a tax hike might be required to paper over a revenue shortfall in gas tax revenues. Hornstein stated that "In the specific transportation funds … those are lagging behind. So while the rest of the state budget has a surplus, we have a deficit in transportation." The thought of a DFL tax hike when there's a $17.6 Billion budget surplus is mind-boggling. What's worse is that every DFL special interest group has their hands out. That isn't surprising. It's just irritating.

For instance, "Then there’s the Met Council, the primary provider of bus service in the Metro area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It relies on the motor vehicle sales tax, 40% of which goes to transit with Metro Transit getting 36 percent. But those collections have suffered as well. Mary Bogie, the regional administrator for the Met Council, told the committee that it, too, is growing year over year but is below what was forecast."

The article continues:

This session, Hornstein has a DFL majority in the Senate that could produce a different result. It included a 5-cent-per-gallon increase in the 28.5-cent state gas tax, an increase in the motor vehicle sales tax, a surcharge on more expensive vehicles and a provision to let the Met Council collect a transit sales tax in its seven-county service area.

"We'll bring those back and then some," Hornstein said. One idea used in Colorado is to assess a fee on deliveries such as those made by Amazon vans. He is also looking at ride sharing services, something the non-driving transportation chair uses when his normal bus commute is disrupted.

"We're going to be creative, we're going to be innovative, and we're going to address the gap," he said. While the pandemic contributed to revenue declines and also led to some federal emergency cash help, the trend remains down.

Transportation is always a contentious issue. K-12 education isn't as contentious as much as it's just a beast. After that, we've got the HHS omnibus bill. That's another beast that's also complicated beyond belief.

The DFL is off to a tough start. They're out-of-step with Minnesotans who live outside of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The DFL is already proposing tax hikes while we've got a $17,600,000,000 surplus. That's pretty similar to what Gov. Walz did in his first budget session. The projected surplus wasn't as big but Gov. Walz still wanted to raise taxes.

This video is off-topic but it's important to highlight Gov. Walz's thinking:

Throwing more money at a problem is typical. In fact, it's the DFL way.

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