House DFL budget raises taxes by $1.5 billion

Posted at 3:50 PM on March 19, 2009 by Mike Mulcahy

State House DFL leaders released the outline of a budget plan today that cuts spending by $843 million, uses federal stimulus money, includes a $1.7 billion accounting shift in the K-12 education budget, and raises as yet unspecified taxes by $1.5 billion.

Unlike the Senate DFL plan it does not feature across the board spending cuts. Other than the shift K-12 doesn't take a cut under the House plan. The biggest cuts are health and human services spending by 5 percent and local government aid by 7.3 percent.

DFL leaders said the House Taxes committee would fill in the details of the $1.5 billion tax increase later.

Gov. Pawlenty's budget plan doesn't raise taxes and relies heavily on one-time money, including the federal stimulus, a K-12 accounting shift, and a plan to borrow against future tobacco payments.

The Senate DFL plan includes a 7 percent across the board spending cut and $2 billion in unspecified tax increases.

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