Lazy Gopher Pachyderm

The Minnesota Democrats (DFL) very quickly substantiated my earlier fears over the highway constitutional amendment that passed during the recent election. I was pretty convinced that it would provide an excuse for raising general taxes down the road.

Instead of waiting, the DFL wants to raise taxes immediately…on gas…to finance transportation projects!

Wait a minute…I thought we were promised that this new constitutional amendment dedicating all gas taxes to transportation issues would solve the funding problem! Apparently not, and it’s also no surprise that this is just one of the DFL’s proposed tax hikes. Another would raise the state sales tax 3/8 of 1% to fund “outdoors and the arts” (no word if outdoor art would be allowed to double-dip…). It looks like a hike in the vehicle registration tax will be coming up as well.

This is just the start of a far-reaching agenda that includes a constitutional amendment establishing affordable health care as a 'right.'

At the moment 2008 is not looking like a good year, nationally, for the GOP. But here in Minnesota, if the DFL keeps behaving like this, it could be a different story.