Capitol View: December 8, 2009 Archive

Another union backs Kelliher

Posted at 9:59 AM on December 8, 2009 by Tim Pugmire
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Minnesota House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis, has picked up the support of another labor union.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Minnesota State Council announced its endorsement today. The IBEW represents 15,000 Minnesotans.

Kelliher also has the support of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 65, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49 and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees.

Here's the IBEW news release:

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Minnesota State Council announced today that Speaker of the House, Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher (DFL-Minneapolis) has earned their endorsement for Governor of Minnesota. This is Kelliher's fourth union endorsement, adding to a broad and growing grassroots coalition of working Minnesotans from every corner of the state.

"Our members, from Rochester to the Twin Cities to Moorhead to Duluth and the Iron Range, need a governor who will get electricians off the bench and back on the job," said Tom Koehler, President of the IBEW Minnesota State Council. "Minnesota needs a peoples-leader and we believe that person, that peoples-leader is Margaret Anderson Kelliher."

IBEW of Minnesota is over 15,500 members-strong working in the building construction trades, energy and manufacturing sectors across the state. "Our members have heard before that this is the most important election in their life and this one is no exception. That's because things keep getting worse, problems compound and real people suffer." Koehler went on to say "Margaret has always stood up for us. She has fought for our jobs, our families, and our future. The men and women of the IBEW are excited about the momentum behind Margaret's campaign and we are proud to be a part of the team."

All ten declared DFL candidates for governor participated in IBEW's comprehensive interview and screening process. But in the end, Kelliher's proven leadership stood out above the rest.

"Serious times call for serious leadership," Koehler said. "When it comes to job creation, Margaret has worked tirelessly to build a better tomorrow for a better Minnesota. The IBEW will work just as hard to elect Margaret the next Governor of Minnesota."

The IBEW Minnesota State Council is made up of 13 local unions representing over 15,500 members living throughout Minnesota.

Fact check: Mark Dayton wants to tax the rich but how much?

Posted at 12:57 PM on December 8, 2009 by Tom Scheck (4 Comments)
Filed under: Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: Minnesota Governor

Former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton has been campaigning for governor with a simple catchphrase "Tax the rich." At nearly every debate, Dayton says the rich aren't paying their fair share in taxes:

"Tim Pawlenty's own department of revenue says that the wealthiest 10 percent of the people in Minnesota pay only three fourths of their proportionate share of income in state and local taxes. The wealthiest 1 percent of Minnesotans pay only two thirds of their proportionate share of income in state and local taxes.

Tim Pawlenty is the best tax shelter the wealthy in Minnesota have ever had. And meanwhile this talk of no new taxes, of course, is not true for most Minnesotans. Property taxes have gone up. Fees have gone up.

My solution, first and foremost before I raise any other tax, I'm going to make taxes progressive in Minnesota again. If the wealthiest 10 percent of the people the state paid even a flat tax, paid even the same percentage of their income as everybody else, that would be $3.8 billion of additional revenues in this biennium. More in the next biennium.

Read my lips. Tax the rich. That's where the money is. It's only fair. We need that money for our schools and everything else." Listen

Paul Wilson, head of the Research Department at the Minnesota Department of Revenue, says Dayton is right that wealthier Minnesotans pay a smaller share of their income in taxes. He points to the Minnesota Tax Incidence Study that was done last year.

While Wilson quibbles with the numbers (he says his back-of-the-envelope calculation finds that hiking income taxes on the wealthiest 10 percent would general $3.4 billion not $3.8 billion) he said Dayton's idea would generate more money and make the tax system more fair.

Dayton's plan would come with significant costs. For example, Wilson said Minnesota's top earners currently pay an income tax rate of 7.85 percent. He said the wealthiest 10 percent of Minnesotans currently have total household incomes of $137,000 or more before taxes.

Wilson said if Dayton hopes to generate $3.4 billion, he would have to nearly double the income tax rate for the wealthiest 10 percent:

"If that is what he's suggesting, to actually do this by raising the top rate or even raising the top rate for those over $250,000 for married couples like one of the House or Senate bills did, you're talking about rates of 13 percent to 15 percent if all you do is raise the top rate..."

"...But that's how large of an increase in the income tax rate that it would take to make that level. To make that the same percentage of income as the state and local tax burden for top 10 percent as for the lower income groups."

Wilson said that would make Minnesota's top income tax rate the highest in the country.

Republicans have argued that increasing the top tax rate would only drive wealthier Minnesotans and small business owners to move to lower tax states.

Even Democrats in the Legislature weren't willing to go as far as Dayton. The Senate passed a bill last year that increased the income tax rate on nearly every Minnesotan and increased the top rate to 9.25 percent for joint filers earning more than $250,000 a year. That bill would have generated $2 billion. Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a House/Senate Conference Committee report that created a new income tax rate of 9 percent on joint filers earning more than $250,000 a year.

Listen to my entire interview with Wilson here on Dayton's proposal and tax policy in general here: Listen

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AP: Senate Democrats reach a deal to drop the public option

Posted at 9:04 PM on December 8, 2009 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Campaign 2008: U.S. Senate, Campaign 2010, Campaign 2010: U.S. House

AP is reporting that Senate Democrats have reached a deal to drop the public option:

Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to provide any details at a mid-evening news conference where he told reporters a "broad agreement" had been reached between liberals and moderates on the controversial issue.

With it, he said, the end is in sight for passage of the legislation that Congress has labored over for months.

In place of a government-run plan, originally designed as a way of forcing competition on private industry, officials said the Democrats had tentatively settled on a private insurance arrangement to be supervised by the federal agency that oversees the system through which lawmakers purchase coverage. Additionally, the tentative deal calls for Medicare to be opened to uninsured Americans beginning at age 55, a significant expansion of the large government health care program that currently serves the 65-and-over population.