Capitol View: March 18, 2009 Archive

Obama's bracket

Posted at 11:27 AM on March 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck (2 Comments)

President Obama released his NCAA Men's B-ball bracket. He has North Carolina defeating Louisville in the championship. He also has Texas beating the Gophers in the first round.

For the record, I have Louisville over Pitt.

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Budget specifics

Posted at 3:11 PM on March 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck

The specifics of Governor Pawlenty's budget revisions have been released.

Bakk looks to tax income, internet sales, music dowloads, etc.

Posted at 4:21 PM on March 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)

The chair of the Minnesota Senate Tax Committee says he's willing to consider raising state income taxes and applying the sales tax to internet purchases and music downloads. DFL Senator Tom Bakk of Cook said today that those are just some of the ideas he's considering to help balance the state's budget. Bakk and other Senate Democrats have a budget plan that cuts spending across the board and relies on $2 billion in new revenue. Bakk said the new revenue would include a mix of tax hikes.

"I'm not taking the sales tax off of the table," Bakk said. "I just offered you up a couple of solutions where we're going to look at expanding the sales tax to music downloads and we're going to look at some online purchases where you can. Our sales tax base is eroding with all of these internet transactions and we've got to find a way to get our arms around that."

Bakk said he is not willing to consider expanding the sales tax to clothing or some professional services. He also argued that Governor Pawlenty can't balance his budget without new revenue. Pawlenty wants to borrow nearly $1 billion in future tobacco payments to balance the budget. Pawlenty and Republicans in the House and Senate have argued that raising taxes would only make economic problems worse.

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Ellison and Paulsen on AIG

Posted at 7:06 PM on March 18, 2009 by Tom Scheck

MPR's Tom Crann interviewed DFL Rep. Keith Ellison and GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen on the fallout regarding the AIG bonunes.

You can listen to Crann's interview with Ellison here:

Listen

You can listen to Crann's interview with Paulsen here:

Listen

Meanwhile, MPR's News Cut takes a look at AIG's campaign contributions.