Today the Minnesota State Legislature voted to override Governor Pawlenty's veto of the $6.6 billion transit bill, thus passing into law one of the largest tax increases in our state's history. Legislators voted in favor of this massive tax increase in spite of recent polls showing the majority of Minnesotans opposed this bill.  Legislators voted in favor of this bill in spite of receiving thousands of phone calls and emails from their constituents urging them to support the Governor's veto.

As a result of this vote, Minnesota will now have one of the highest gas taxes in the nation.  A new sales tax will be imposed upon a majority of Minnesotans without a referendum allowing the people to have a voice in this decision. And those who purchase a new vehicle will pay a significantly higher personal property tax each year over the life of the vehicle. In the end, all Minnesotans will pay more - an average of $300 to $400 annually per household. And these new taxes are regressive, hitting those who can least afford it the hardest.

Some legislators tried to exploit the tragic I-35W bridge collapse to justify this bill, even though NSTB reports indicate the bridge collapse was likely due to a design flaw, not a lack of maintenance.  Some legislators tried to sell this as jobs bill, claiming that over 33,000 high-paying jobs would be created when, in fact, further investigation revealed that fewer than 2,000 construction jobs would actually result. Many legislators who voted for this bill told constituents that MnDOT said it needed an additional $2 to 3 billion dollars a year to fund its needs.  What these legislators did not share with their constituents, however, is that these figures represented a "wish list" of every conceivable transportation project MnDOT thought it might ever do.  Many of the projects on this list would never be completed because they were infeasible.  An example of one such project is the addition of lanes on I-94 between Minneapolis and St. Paul which could never happen because it was too expensive to “take” all the private property – residences and businesses – that would be necessary to expand the highway).

The bill passed today allocates 100% of the metro sales tax increase to the mass transit boondoggle (a total of $1.1 billion over ten years) versus fixing our roads and bridges. The bill pass today still relies upon pork-barrel allocation formulas for channeling gas tax revenues to areas other than those which need it the most.

There were other options available to finance Minnesota's transportation needs. But the state legislature decided to raise your taxes instead of cutting spending or making use of bonding.  What may be most disappointing about this vote is that it suggests that a majority of our state legislators do not have the people's best interests in mind. It suggests that they care more about special interest groups that stand to benefit from this bill than their constituents who will be forced to pay for it. Perhaps it's time for the people to get serious about taking back their government. Perhaps it's time for a change in whose representing your interests at our state capitol.