Strib: Gov. Dayton gets standing ovation from business group
PiPress: Dayton scolds business leaders for opposition to tax overhaul

Those stories are both about the very same event. Video of this Dayton tantrum would be amazing to see.

If you go on to read both stories, you’ll find out that Dayton went in angry and clinging to his principles and determined to lecture business leaders, not listen.

Mark Dayton is bad for business and jobs are created when businesses thrive. Mark Dayton only cares about Government thriving.

Democrats have unveiled another laundry list of taxes at the State Capital. This one is relates to transportation. Two words: Job killer. 

Its Rep. Erhardt’s bill HF931 (pdf) Emphasis mine)

• authorizing and appropriating $800.8 million in trunk highway bonds, provided at $100 million per year over fiscal years 2014-17;
• raising registration taxes by increasing the rate (from 1.25 percent to 1.375 percent of depreciated base value) as well as the flat fee (from $10 to $20);
• establishing a late payment penalty for some registration taxes;
• increasing taxes on motor fuels by a total of 9.5 cents per gallon for gasoline and diesel with proportional increases for other fuel types, which is phased in over fiscal years 2014-17;
• allocating all revenue from motor vehicle lease sales tax to transportation purposes;
• expanding the general sales tax to include motor vehicle repairs and service, with revenues allocated to transportation purposes;
• amending exemptions to the general sales tax to include purchases made with constitutionally dedicated transportation funds;
• eliminating some exemptions from the motor vehicle sales tax;
• raising the flat tax, from $90 to $150, imposed on sales of collector vehicles in lieu of the motor vehicle sales tax;
• modifying the county wheelage tax, to expand the authority to all counties and eliminate a $5 cap;
• raising the rate, from 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent, for the metropolitan area transportation sales tax and requiring allocation of a one-third of revenues to county highways;
• eliminating a referendum requirement on the local option transportation sales tax for counties in Greater Minnesota; and
• authorizing cities to establish municipal street improvement districts.

I’m sitting here adding up all the added costs that would result from this bill. Not just me personally, but also our business. And that is just the stated increases, this bill would remove multiple layers of accountability by removing referendums and caps that would allow local cities and counties to tax at will.

Two other words come to mind after reading that summary: Term Limits. Its time for term limits in Minnesota.

If this passes, this is yet another shining example of why you should not consider opening a business in Minnesota if Democrats are in charge. And newsflash folks, not everyone works for the Government, so if you want a good paying job, you need people that will want to run a business here.

Its interesting to me that whenever Government is projected to have a deficit, there are talks of spending cuts, or even reductions in the growth rate of it, Democrats trot out the Police, firefighters, old people, and school kids to use as a backdrop to force Republicans to increase taxes. Every single time there is not bipartisan support to increase taxes, the Democrats rattle off the same laundry list of services that will be cut or people that will lose their jobs. Its like clock work.

Now there is political motivation for why they do that, but the point it, they claim to understand some basic business principles. The idea is that if you restrict the amount of revenue Government has available to it, that things will have to change. They will have to find savings or cut spending. They always go for the jugular of schools, seniors, and first responders.

Perpetual and permanent government growth is the Democrats Alamo. They know that if Americans and Minnesotans remember/”figure out” that they can get a better deal, have better choices, and more freedom and liberty through the private sector that their quest for absolute power over the lives of us is over.Its why they oppose any education reforms empowering parents to do what is best for their kids. Unions remove the ability for localities to cater their pay and benefits to meet the local market supply and demand. Its one size fits all, let us make this decision for you.

A eerily plausible fictional interpretation of what Democrats truly envision is part of the Atlas Shrugged movies. Part 2 includes Directive 10-289.

You see evidence of that in DFL State Rep. Ryan Winkler’s minimum wage proposal which prohibits businesses from reacting to Government actions. Take a look at his latest amendment to the Minimum wage increase which shines a light on the scary similarities between modern day Democrats and the Wesley Mouch of Atlas Shrugged.

“Large employer” means an enterprise whose annual gross volume of sales made or business done is not less than $625,000…”

[...]

“No employer may take any action to displace an employee, including a partial displacement through a reduction in hours, wages, or employment benefits, in order to hire an employee at the wage authorized in this paragraph.”

[...]

“EFFECTIVE DATE. This section is effective the day following final enactment.”

I’m no economist and we hire a bookkeeper, but chances are our modest 5 employee company fits Winkler’s “large employer” definition. Just as the SAFE Act and Wall Street bills were aimed at millionaires and billionaires, little mom and pop shops, doing good and honest work providing goods and services with nary a complaint, end up getting squashed under the same iron fist of bureaucrats and progressive do-gooders.

Case in point. Winkler’s law will prohibit companies from doing exactly what he says Government will be forced to do if taxes aren’t increased. People will be fired or as Obama says with Sequestration, government workers will be furloughed.

Somehow Government understands that it takes money for private employers to actually employ people, but it doesn’t care that higher taxes, mandates wage increases, and government red tape all make that harder to do. Just imagine if they had the self awareness to pretend that their sacred Government was a private business and they were the CEO. The roles reversed. They understand the economic of business, the problem is their business is Government.

I could go on, but the point is, isn’t it ironic that whenever spending cuts are mentioned, Democrats squeal like pigs, yet they call businesses and private citizens greedy and unpatriotic when they have a similar reaction to Government wanting to take more of their money away.

The White House released forecasts of what state budget line items they will cut if “Sequestration” happens this week. The fear mongering is designed to make Minnesotans think they will have to pay more to prevent cuts to carefully selected services. Obama(‘s auto pen) signed the Sequestration plan into place on New Year’s Day. This last minute fear mongering rings a little hollow to me since he has had 2 months to work with Congress to avoid this.

You will not hear the end of the cuts this week, but there’s far more dangerous budgeting happening closer to home. Please bear in mind that this is $85 Billion dollars out of a $3.8 Trillion budget. The idea that safetynet health insurance for the poor and firefighter jobs or whatever other tear jerking crowd of backdrop standings Obama can find … a pathetic excuse of leadership.

The homegrown version of Obamacare: The Minnesota Health Insurance Exchange” has a far more dangerous design flaw that will cost Minnesotans far more. Mark Dayton and Senate Democrats made this their very first agenda item this session. Senate File #1.

This program is so poorly designed that it has a $75 million donut hole each and every year. The fact is Government run programs require permanent funding to run. They are inventing a new system and this will require a whole new set of bureaucrats to administer the program. And please don’t lose sight of how this is simply to manage something almost every Minnesotan already has.

So while their is much thumping on their chests for what seems to add up to just $20 million is potential lost Federal monies, Democrats in Minnesota are trying to install an unproven, top down, and bloated bureaucracy to facilitate your health care.

Maybe we should be a little more concerned about where the rubber meets the road here in Minnesota, and not be distracted by some veiled threats from the White House.

Another great bit of journalism from the Duluth News Tribune on the Mark Dayton sales tax plan and how it would actually affect Minnesota’s economy.

The trucking association, however, is focusing on the fact that — if Dayton’s proposed budget is passed — the 5.5 percent tax would be added every time a product is shipped by truck.

For example, if a truck is hauling lumber, there would be a tax for trucking the raw material out of the woods and to the mill, Hausladen said. It would be taxed again to haul it to a plant. It would be taxed yet again to haul it to the distributor, he said, and finally, it could be taxed if it’s trucked to the person purchasing the lumber to build something.

Why that almost sounds like a Value Added Tax. Problem is, we have the full slate of other taxes.

The point is, this Sales Tax plan of Mark Dayton will devastate the manufacturing industry in Minnesota by ratcheting up the cost of good and services which will lead to less jobs down the road by making Minnesota suppliers less competitive to out of state ones.

Whether the Senate backing off the magazine capacity limits and evil black riffle ban is true or not, the Senate is debating a far more infringing provision in their quest to take safety out of the hands of Minnesotans and put it squarely into the hands of police. They want to make every single gun sale go through a dealer. That means if you want to sell one of your privately owned guns, you will need to go through a 3rd party.

Oh and in other news, the DFL also thinks its immoral to “limit the freedom to marry”.

On the one hand civil rights! on the other, taking away rights.

Oh and then their is the other sacred issue for DFLers, abortion. 55 million Americans have been prevented from being born. BUt my guns are a huge safety issue.

Show you who we are dealing with.

Meanwhile the press is allowing Governor Dayton (who swore he was pro-2nd amendment during his campaign) to not be on the record on this issue as well.

If President Obama spent half the time fixing the economy as he did campaigning….

Via the Emperor’s email:

So this Friday, February 22nd, Organizing for Action volunteers all around the country are participating in a Day of Action focused on one simple goal: get Congress to pass legislation to require universal background checks and remove loopholes.

There’s an event near you in Minneapolis – will you be there?

Here are the details:

What: Day of Action event in Minneapolis

Where: 300 Washington Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

When: Friday, February 22nd
2:00 pm

The President has already taken key steps, but Congress needs to act, and we need to demand it.

Requiring background checks for all gun sales is a common-sense solution that 92 percent of Americans, 89 percent of Republicans, and 74 percent of NRA members support. We’ve got to keep firearms from getting into the wrong hands — and this is a crucial first step.

Maybe some law abiding citizens should show up and infiltrate the movement to fundamentally transform America.

Because many of the ideas being proposed in Minnesota by the DFL are similar to those being proposed in other Democrat controlled states. Colorado’s Legislature is considering repealing their carry law. Here’s what one Legislator had to say to women who …. well, just listen and pray that Minnesota Democrats aren’t as misguided.

HT: Hotair

Follow the link to find out more on Rep. Salazar’s theory of how best to prepare to be raped…. Oh and more brilliant ideas from Democrats against guns from Washington where they want to allow Police to forcibly search your home for guns, with out a warrant.

They call it a whoops, but chances are the only mistake is we found out before they got the law passed.

We need to shed a light on the Democrat agenda being coordinated from sea to shining sea.

Brady campaign – Bloomberg’s Mayor’s – Soros – Uniform Legislative Commission – etc etc.

A loophole is a loophole is a loophole.

The Legislature has sent Gov. Mark Dayton a bill that will allow about 250,000 Minnesota taxpayers to claim new federal tax deductions on their state releases as well.

You can’t call it a loophole for rich people or businesses and only a deduction for everyone else.

Among those eligible for deductions are teachers who can claim education expenses, homeowners who take itemized deductions for their mortgage insurance premiums, and college students or parents using higher education tuition deductions.

Buying votes?

Dayton has said he would sign the bill.

Loopholes!

I guess Democrats don’t hate loopholes, just who gets them. The problem is, this should have been passed right away this session. There are countless people who have already had their taxes done this year. Too little too late?

The underreported of and jaw dropping spin being applied to the DFL’s naked power grab and disrespect for nearly half of the Minnesota electorate, is going to continue to drive newspaper subscriptions and local TV news ratings down the drain.

Minnesota House GOP leader says anger over rule changes won’t threaten bonding bill

This was the most divisive rule change ever in Minnesota politics. It brings Washingtonian style partisanship to St. Paul. You see Dayton and the Democrat special interests bought the Legislature, but they only managed to win that by 2050 or so properly placed votes. They got lucky in other words and know that with a little hard work, smart moves on data improvements, and the right plan, Republicans could easily take back the Minnesota House and expose Dayton as the fringe left socialist that he really is.

The fact that I know how the left wing special interests have to limit Dayton’s negotiating meetings in order to prevent him from being reasonable and compromising means that the reporters also know this.

This rule change was another firewall to prevent compromise and bi-partisanship in Minnesota state government.

The DFL is now effectively killing the amendment process. They did so to avoid their members being on the record against common sense revisions to their radical laws they plan to pass. And that’s the key, Democrats can pass anything they want to with out Republican help, except the bonding bill which requires 2/3rds to pass or 90 votes. Hence the media’s desire to put Republicans firmly on the record of willing to play nice despite being silenced by the majority.

The fact is the DFL’s laws, mostly crafted by left wing special interest groups (Odd the media isn’t all over this since they were all over the GOP’s affection for ALEC laws last year). The gun restriction laws are a great example. They were written by Bloomberg’s group which is why the lobbyist had to present the bill, Alice Hausman didn’t know what it even said.

The power grab of the rule change erasing the ability to amendment a bill on the floor is going to come back and bight the DFL. Because one of their copy and past bills will have a mistake, it will be on deadline, and they will have to kill it or pass it and allow the mistake to become law.

While both sides have abused the amendment  process over the years, yes BOTH SIDES, it is still a good process to allow transparency and equal representation. Dare I say taxation with out representation? Regardless, the fact is one party and all their powerful special interests are going to get something wrong and when that happens, the egg will be on their face.

The question is, will the press bother to point the blame in the right direction? Lord knows they didn’t bother to cover many facts yet in this session.