GOP Has Allergic Reaction to Minnesota's Economic Success

Earlier this month, I wrote a short post about Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D) who raised the minimum wage as well as taxes on the wealthy.  Instead of the disaster state Republicans predicted, Minnesota's unemployment is at a historic low, median income is rising and the budget has a newly estimated $1.87 billion excess. 

Governor Dayton wants to use the surplus for education, especially the establishment of state-wide kindergarten for 4 year-olds, and for the rebuilding of Minnesota's infrastructure.  State Republican legislators, who hold the majority in the House, have other ideas.  They want to cut estate taxes for the wealthy and cut property taxes for large corporations. The Minnesota Management and Budget Office estimates that these cuts will total $2 billion,   

Acknowledging that their proposed tax cuts are more than the state's excess, Republican lawmakers say they would keep the budget in balance by making cuts to health and human services (the figure they have proposed is below what is dictated by state law), reducing funding for the state's environmental agencies and restricting the number of school districts scheduled to get funding for the governor's kindergarten program.

House Minority Leader Paul Thissen (D) had this to say, "The Republicans were given a $2 billion budget surplus on a silver platter, and now they want to give it all back to corporate special interests with a silver spoon."

what eye thynk:  What is it with the GOP?  They see economic success and they start itching to find ways to screw it up.  If "wealthy/tax cuts" and "poor/service cuts" are not part of the plan, they all break out in hives.