Survey Supports Efforts to Restrain Spending

Dear Neighbor,

I thank the local citizens who participated in a legislative survey I recently conducted. You make it clear you support continued efforts to restrain state spending and hold the line on taxes.

We recently learned we have a $1.2 billion state budget surplus. I asked survey respondents how surplus funds should be used and provided four options for them to rank in terms of priority.

The most common response as the top priority (44 percent) is paying back shifted K-12 funds. Incidentally, the House recently passed a bill to do just that.

Half of the survey respondents say the No. 2 priority should be to establish savings to cushion ourselves during future economic turbulence. We are doing that by replenishing our cash-flow account.

Reducing taxes (30 percent) is the most common No. 3 priority for use of our surplus finds, while a whopping 70 percent say increased government spending is the least-desired choice.

While surplus funds can eliminate the K-12 shift we enacted last year, there still is a sizeable balance from K-12 shifts we inherited from the previous majority. Two-thirds of the survey respondents say we should pay this off by reducing spending in order to grow the surplus, compared with just 33 percent who want to raise taxes to pay off the old shift debt.

As for tax reform, a 52-percent majority says the greatest need for improvement is in the area of income taxes. A 35-percent minority says the greatest need is in property taxes.

The future of health care is something which concerns many of us. A 62-percent majority of survey participants say we should reject the federal plan – aka Obamacare – and pass private-sector reforms that offer Minnesotans more personal freedom and flexibility in health care coverage. Only 38 percent say we should go along with federal Obamacare.

Proposals to open up new streams of tax revenue have been discussed, but 55 percent of the survey respondents say Minnesota should not be looking for new areas to tax. A 37-percent minority says we should tax online purchases, while 20 percent favor taxing services such as accounting and lawyer fees. Just 10 percent want us to tax goods such as food and/or clothing.

The topic of requiring voters to provide photo ID at the polls continues to make news. A strong 68 percent support the photo ID requirement.

Another yes-no question asked whether our Constitution should be amended to guarantee all citizens have the individual freedom to decide to join a labor union, and to pay or not pay dues to a labor union. A 64-percent majority supports that initiative.

A majority of 63 percent says our transportation priorities should lie in fixing existing roads, highways and bridges. Only 28 percent want rail expansion.

The only question to lack conclusiveness was this: “Should the Legislature be participating in discussions pertaining to the construction of a new Minnesota Vikings stadium?” Respondents are split 50-50 on this yes-no question.

If the state were to participate in this stadium project, fan taxes applied specifically to goods and services purchased by football fans are the preferred methods of funding, at 44 percent. Racino (27 percent), Block-E casino (18 percent), electronic pull-tabs (9 percent) and Legacy Amendment funds (2 percent) receive less support.

I again thank all the citizens who participated in my survey, which was distributed in constituent email updates and made available to local media. You can click here to see the complete results.

Sincerely,

Kirk Stensrud (42A), Minnesota House of Representatives