Marcia Avner

Sunshine-the-Wonder-Dog and I recovered from the Sunday morning chill by curling up on the sofa with the Sunday paper. And there it was, in the Star Tribune “Opinion Exchange” section, a combo of opinion pieces telling a truth about the real and potential damage to Minnesota’s public structures, Minnesota’s commitment to fairness and oppprtunity, Minnesota’s future economic growth that is resulting from tax cuts. Star Tribune editorial writer Dave Hage, one of the best analysts of fiscal policy in town, and John Foley, an author and CEO of Level, a Minneapolis firm, offer well documented critiques of the failures of a low-tax approach to stimulating the economy.

“The low-tax experiment has been a flop. It’s time to try something new,” asserts Hage’s headline. The tax cuts of the late 90s through 2001, permanent reductions in the state’s revenues of about $1 billion annually, have ended up slowing rather than growing the state’s economy. Hage reports that starting in 2005 the state’s council of economic advisors described Minnesota’s economy as underperforming the nations. This is not Minnesotan!

We should be concerned. We should be more than a little angry. And we should be very strategic about the policies that we advocate this year. If we’re paying less and getting less, and if that is diminishing our excellence in education, job development, wages, health, community services, and more, then we need to pay more, get more, and enjoy the Minnesota we want to be.

In “If the state were run like a business, we’d insist on results. Cost-cutting won’t produce them,” Foley takes to task the Governor and legislature, underscoring that their commitment to “no new taxes” has led to reduced investments in the future and “…an erosion in our standard of living and ability to compete.”

I moved here in 1970 for 2 years of study in the American Studies Department at the U of M. Weather nonwithstanding, I came to love Minnesota so much that I forgot to leave. So I have strong feelings about the unraveling of much that has made this a fine place to be. Minnesotans need to use their clout as voters, constituents, neighbors, acitivists, to insist on more investments and the fair tax structure that we need to make those investments possible. “Cost cutting,” says Foley, “is not a sustainable business strategy.”

Each of us can insist that our Senator and Representative show some wisdom (and occasionally some courage) and get us back on the right track.

And if our leaders fail to think long term and make those strategic investments, (with a moment of remembrance for the late Molly Ivens,) “Raise Hell!”