Dayton pitches his budget plan around the state

FARGO_ From small airport to small airport across Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton Wednesday pitched his $37 billion budget as the best solution for tough times.

Along the way he was joined by local officials who welcomed the budget's plan to spare state aid. Some local officials said they were willing to accept the plan's bite -- more than $3 billion in tax increases -- in exchange for the aid that they hope will bring property tax relief.

"I've never complained about my (income) taxes in Minnesota. I feel if you have the ability to pay, it is your responsibility," said Cloquet Mayor Bruce Ahlgren, who stopped in at Dayton's Duluth landing. Ahlgren said he and his wife would likely be one of the richest 5 percent to pay higher taxes under Dayton's budget. But, he said, that would be a relief compared to cutting more city services.

"We have cut to the bone," Ahlgren said. "It is such a relief to have a governor who understands what is going on in local government."

At every stop Wednesday morning, Dayton was confronted with the same conundrum that will face him when he returns home -- Republicans who control the Legislature are dead set against his proposed tax increases.

In an Star Tribune interview at a Moorhead coffee shop, Dayton said he "had in my mind some things" that might effect eventual compromise but realized that the process needed to play out first.

"That kind of compromise only occurs under time pressure," he said, between sips of black coffee and nibbles of a cookie.

He said he strongly believes that higher income taxes on the wealthy is the right answer but he is fully prepared to "engage" with the Republicans on that debate.

Ultimately, he said, he is looking to restore an ethic of shared sacrice and pass on a better state to the next generation. He said he is willing to fight for that.

"If I stand alone, I stand alone," he said.

Although Dayton's budget uses tax and revenue increases to solve about three-fourths of the $6.2 billion deficit, coming up with the solution was not easy, the governor said.

The plan would slam Minnesota quickly into the top tax rate for the richest in the country, something Dayton said he wanted to avoid. He acknowledged that during the campaign he set a commitment to keep Minnesota from the ultimate-in-taxes position and took that commitment "very seriously."

He said the "seed" of that idea may have been planted after his December lunch with former Gov. Al Quie. Quie adopted similar "blink-on" tax charges in the early 1980s.

"It was the last resort. It was not the first resort," Dayton said. He said adopting the surcharge was an "act of budget desperation" he came to one night at home, after looking at the alternative in cuts or flat funding in education.

"We came up short in revenue," he said, who Wednesday pitched his tax plan as one that would make Minnesota on 10th or 12th highest in taxes per capita in the country.

Tthe alternative -- cutting state aid to cities which would result in higher property taxes -- simply does not make sense, he said.

"I, for the life of me, don't understand that priority," Dayton said."They (he said of Republicans" are going to protect the riches Minnesotans from paying higher taxes until the end of time."

"I take these very very seriously," he said.

In Moorhead, he was confronted by an advocate for the disabled, who said politely but ardently broke into reporters' question to state that Dayton's budget seemed to target her clients.

Dayton said it was not possible to avoid cuts in their entirety.

"I don't take any of these cuts lightly," he said.

Dayton also said Wednesday that if the revenue forecast is slightly brighter later this month, he hoped to undo some of those proposed rate cuts or surcharge increases.

Despite the heavy budget talk all day, there was some levity.

In Moorhead, a reporter asked the governor if there was any thought given to plane-sharing with the Republicans today, since they are also flying around the state.