102% 10 Year Growth?

Many Minnesotans, myself included, pride ourselves living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.  Many that move to our state, however, do not notice the lakes but rather our taxes.  Instead of referring to 10,000 lakes, they begin to call Minnesota the Land of 10,000 Taxes.

For the first time in Minnesota history, though, our state government will  be smaller this year than it was last year. While this sounds like a great day for fiscal conservative principles, many have argued that this is putting an undue burden on local governments trying to provide “essential” local services.

In a recent article in the St. Paul Pioneer press, Bill Sallisbury interviews our Current Minnesota State Auditor, Rebecca Otto which provoked me to ask a few questions after reading her comments below.

The Auditor points out, through the 2008 City Finances Report, “between 1999 and 2008, property-tax revenue cities collected grew 102 percent, compared with a 10 percent  increase in revenue from other governmental sources….the proportion of revenue that cities derived from property taxes grew from 24 percent in 1999 to 35 percent in 2008.”

The Auditor goes on the say that “if this trend continues, it will further increase the reliance on property taxes as a source of revenue and with the foreclosure crisis and the tight economy, this trend is troubling.”

Part of this problem revolves around what is referred to as Local Government Aid (LGA) being cut from the state budget.  Many fiscal conservatives see this as a necessary budget move to remove local dependency on the state.  Liberal groups, however, have targeted this cut as cruel and inhumane as local governments budget with the assumption they will receive LGA funds.  This opposition underscores the fundamental problem with all government subsidies: the risk of dependency by the recipient.  To read more, check out the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota’s interesting work on how Local Government Aid’s impacts local fiscal matters, you can download the pdf here.

Don’t we, as the people, want more control over local government issues?  In most cases we can impact local change quicker than national change.  I don’t know about you but I’d want my voice to matter on the local level and the ability to stand up to my local government officials who simply want more money to throw at perceived problems.  If you are unsure, ask yourself this question:  Do you, as Minnesota residents, believe that you’re quality of life has risen 102%?

How do you propose we fix this problem?  What have your local officials said about LGA and the prospect of raising property taxes?  Post your thoughts below, e-mail me at Tom@americanmajority.org, or re-tweet this on Twitter.