Paul Kohls: State must live within its means

Last update: March 25, 2009 - 6:49 PM

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In this economic crisis, people understandably are becoming more and more skeptical about the "facts" of what is facing us, especially when these "facts" are presented by "experts" -- economists, certain businesspeople and politicians. But here are a few, recent, undisputable facts about what our state is facing.

It's a fact that the state is facing a $6.4 billion deficit. It's a fact that the DFL intends to rely heavily on one-time money from the federal government to try to solve the deficit. It's a fact that the DFL Senate has proposed $2 billion in tax increases and the DFL House has proposed $1.5 billion in new taxes. It's a fact that the DFL House criticized the governor for using a $1.2 billion accounting shift as part of his budget plan, and then turned around and proposed a $1.7 billion shift itself.

It has become clear over the past 10 weeks that the DFL leadership simply does not understand what families and business across Minnesota know -- it's not a good idea to spend more than you have.

Before the current legislative session even began, I started a conversation with Minnesotans suggesting that it's time for state government to get control over its spending. It's no longer enough to only focus on the size of the tax burden placed on Minnesotans; we need to focus more attention on how those tax dollars are spent.

Minnesotans understand that, as difficult as it may be, the most responsible thing to do when times are tough is to reduce expenses.

I think most people would be hard-pressed to suggest that our state government cannot fund our top priorities with the approximately $30.7 billion in tax revenue that is projected. We can provide a world-class education for our children and protect public safety plus have plenty of money left over for many of the "nice to haves."

Simply put, the state must live within its means and focused on today and tomorrow, not yesterday.

There are those at the Capitol who believe that the state's current activities are all-important and therefore should not be cut. These same people also believe that what government does is more important than what private citizens do.

But people who live in the real world know that private citizens in the private economy are the key to an economic recovery. Private citizens are the only ones who can rescue us from our high unemployment, declining economic activity and lower tax collections. We must keep the businesses and jobs we have today and encourage the creation of new jobs in the future, but we do that only by ensuring that we don't add to the costs imposed by government.

That's a fact that everyday Minnesotans know. Now we just need to convince the politicians in charge.

REP. PAUL KOHLS, R-VICTORIA.

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