We complain about potholes, but we don't want our income tax raised. We complain about the cost of education, but we don't want sales taxes increased. We complain about the high rate of unemployment, but we don't want "shovel-ready" construction projects funded by the state. We complain about the lack of personal savings, but we don't want people to stop consuming. We complain about spending on social services, but we don't want to cut any program that we benefit from.

Last I checked, there was a looming $6 billion deficit in the state of Minnesota. Instead of coming together to figure out how best to fix this mess, the players are lining up to defend special interests or their political party's ideology. And too many Minnesotans are putting what's best for them before what is best for the state. Something has to give, Minnesota. Actually, all of us have to give something, or give up something, to resolve the deficit and to set Minnesota back on a course of prosperity, for us and for future generations. One way all of us can give something is to lower the overall rate of sales tax, but apply it uniformly to include products and services that are currently tax-free. The mere suggestion of this has specific industries up in arms. Lawyers are protesting any possible taxation of their services. Retailers are saying the sky will fall if there is a sales tax on clothing. The food industry is gearing up for a fight should a tax be considered on groceries. Everyone is looking out for their personal interests, but is that what is best for the state? I have long opposed a sales tax on necessities such as food and clothes because it is believed to be one more burden on poor and middle-class people, but now is the time to rethink this. Applying a sales tax equally, across all products and services, will go far in addressing our current deficit and building for the future. And there are ways to assist those who are least able to pay for these newly taxed items by lowering the overall rate of sales tax and by creating regular "tax-free days" when certain products, like clothes, could be sold without being taxed. Making the sales tax more equitable is not just about getting needed money into state coffers. It's about everyone making a contribution to the health, vitality and future of our state. It's also about getting people to think a bit more about the consumer-crazed world we live in. Do you really need a $200 pair of jeans and do you really need those jeans today? If so, why shouldn't there be a sales tax on them? If the poor and middle-class will pay more through sales taxes, the rich, too, should be expected to do more. Governor Dayton's plan to increase the income tax for the wealthy and top-income earners ensures that those with the most to give are doing so. "To those whom much is given, much is expected" applies to taxes as much as it does to other areas of life. Governor Dayton has suggested the state approve $1 billion in borrowing to launch "shovel-ready" construction projects in 2011. His opponents have countered by saying that bonding bills are only considered in even-numbered years by the legislature and that you can't borrow your way out of a recession. Those in the construction trades, or those communities with long-planned public projects on the books, might find these arguments weak. And we forget that there are more reasons to support "shovel-ready" projects than just getting some people back to work. A new physics and nanotechnology lab at the University of Minnesota, for example, will pay dividends for decades to come. Unless we want Minnesota to continue on a downward trajectory, it is time for all of us to give something. And, yes, we should also be willing to give up something. We must look at existing programs and see where there is duplication and waste and little or no return on our state's investment. Whenever possible, without further eroding the social safety net, those programs and services should be cut or eliminated. The solution to our current fiscal problem is not all top-down or bottom-up. It's not about solely raising more revenue or only cutting our way out of the deficit jungle. It's about putting what's best for our individual wallets and our professional and political careers on the back burner and doing what's best for the future of our state.