Republican candidate for governor Tom Emmer is all over the new Republican theme -- Democratic candidate Mark Dayton doesn't have a complete budget plan.
Emmer hammered the point, made by supportive Republicans repeatedly during the past few days, on a Tuesday spot on Minnesota Public Radio.
"Let's start talking about the elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge. Sen. Dayton has proposed a plan that is billions of dollars short," Emmer said. He went on to suggest that Dayton will have to increase taxes more folks than he's specified -- couples making taxable income of $150,000 and singles earning $130,000. "How far are you willing to go?"
"It sounds good. Everybody likes the idea that we should tax somebody else....When does it end?"" Emmer said (although he added that he doesn't like the idea of increasing taxes.) In a release, his campaign went even further -- saying, oddly, that Dayton has a "secret plan" to raise taxes on the middle class.
"Put it on paper, Sen. Dayton," Emmer said. (Republicans on Twitter and on blogs have taken to accusing individual reporters of negligence for not following suit.)
Dayton has acknowledged that his budget plan comes up nearly $1 billion short. That's in part because his income tax plan won't bring in as much money as he had hoped. He has specified how he would make the cuts he's found, although some are estimates and others have been deemed unrealistic. But he admits a "gap," which leads opponents to believe he'll raise more in taxes.
Emmer's budget plan does balance with the expected deficit -- but does it through cuts. Although he outlined broad budget areas he would trim or not increase as much as formulas would dictate, he has not specified which programs would be cut or what would happen to services as a result.
