Taxed Enough Already? Then, let’s Party

BY ED FELIEN

You just filed your State and Federal Income Taxes. You’re going to have to pay your property taxes May 15. You pay a 7.775 percent Sales Tax on everything you buy in South Minneapolis. Plus, you pay sin taxes on alcohol and tobacco, excise taxes on anything else the government thinks they can get away with and fees on everything from dogs to building permits.

Where does all the money go?
Most of your Federal tax dollars go to funding present wars and paying for past ones—54 percent, or about $1.5 trillion. Almost half of your Minnesota taxes go to education—46.5 percent. Part of the sales tax (.015 percent) goes to pay for the Twins baseball stadium; that’s going to add up to about a billion dollars over the 30-year life of the bonds.

If we’re paying so much in taxes, why is everything falling apart? Why are there such huge deficits at the Federal and State levels?

One of the first things George W. Bush did when he got appointed President by the Supreme Court was to pass a tax break for the rich; then he started two wars. This led to huge deficits and an economic collapse. While he was Minority Leader in the House, Tim Pawlenty led the charge for a tax break for the rich. Since he’s been Governor he’s vowed to hold the line on taxes. He also has supported laws that insure that additional taxes cannot be imposed on a population without their consent in a referendum. Of course that went out the window when he wanted to give a billion dollar stadium to multi-billionaire Carl Pohlad. He shepherded that boondoggle through the Legislature and somehow still claimed to be holding the line on taxes.

One of the principal ways Pawlenty has built his reputation for being a budget watchdog is that he has consistently tried to cut health and social service programs for the poor, and he has slashed local government aid to cities. One of his bright ideas to save money was to appoint Lt. Governor Molnau to head the Department of Transportation (DOT). She had no experience in transportation or construction, but Pawlenty obviously didn’t think the position was serious enough to pay for a full-time qualified expert. One of the responsibilities of the head of the DOT is to monitor the safety of highways and bridges. The 35W bridge across the Mississippi was rated as “structurally deficient” in 2005 by the U. S. Department of Transportation’s National Bridge Inventory. An inspection of June 15, 2006, found cracking and fatigue. On Aug. 1, 2007, the bridge suddenly collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring 145. His notion of saving money is Pawlenty-wise and pound catastrophic.

Minnesota AFSCME (American Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees), Council 5, leafleted Post Offices on Tax Day, April 15, to ask taxpayers: “Are you tired of paying more so the rich can pay less? Tax breaks for the rich cost Minnesota more than $1 billion each year. The richest Minnesotans pay less than 9 percent of their income on state and local taxes. Meanwhile, working families pay more than 12 percent. (Source: Minnesota Depar-tment of Revenue, 2009 Tax Incidence Study.)” Eliot Seide, Director of AFSCME, Council 5, said, “Working families pay their taxes. We think it’s time for the richest Minnesotans to pay their fair share, too. It’s the fairest way to fix the budget and invest in a better future for everyone. It’s simply wrong to cut education, health care and public safety in order to protect the rich.”

The collapse of the 35W bridge was the most dramatic and tragic example of the Republican strategy of disinvestment in the infrastructure of buildings, roads and bridges, but the maintenance of City streets in Minneapolis is another. The severe cuts in local government aid has meant severe cuts in street maintenance. One of the ways the City of Minneapolis compensates for this budget shortfall is by sealcoating or re-surfacing a residential street rather than tearing it up and rebuilding it.

Carol Becker of the Minneapolis Board of Estimate and Taxation analyzed this problem in a recent post on the Minneapolis Issues List: “But here’s the kicker: one of the reasons they are only doing resurfacings (which only last about a third or a half as long as a regular street re-do) is that they can charge the property owner the full cost of the cheaper fix. On a regular do-over of the street, the property owner only pays about one-third of the cost.

“First off, if you think the streets are worse than they used to be, you are correct. The city’s own performance information tells this. In 1996, the pavement condition index (PCI) was 81 for all streets and 87 for residential streets. In 2008, all streets were at 73 and residential streets were at 77. This is a clear degradation of the streets and also a very large financial hole if we were to try bringing the quality of the streets back up to where they were.”

Perhaps the most precious things we pass on to our grandchildren are things we really don’t think much about: our roads, parks, libraries and system of government. Sadly, the treasures we inherited are being eaten away by the greed of the rich and their friends who control our government.