 House Republican affordability Stop me if you’ve heard this before: The high cost of groceries, childcare, housing, insurance, energy bills, and just about everything else under the sun has continued to rise. Billions of dollars in new state taxes, fees, hidden costs and unfunded mandates passed by the former trifecta have only added to the burden locally and throughout the state. None of that is news. So why aren’t we doing anything to fix it? Well, House Republicans this week hosted a press conference to share some ideas we have packaged up in the North Star Comeback plan to provide some breathing room for Minnesota families and businesses. The package includes one-time property tax refund, eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, lowering childcare costs, reducing car tab fees, and directing hundreds of millions of dollars to schools through scholarship granting organizations. This puts real money back in Minnesotans’ pockets through a $3.8 billion tax cut proposal – the largest in state history. Oh, and as we do this, we’re also working on making government work better by advancing a strong Office of Inspector General to crack down on fraud and prevent billions of taxpayer dollars from being wasted. House Republicans made an effort to bring the tab fee reduction and property tax refund bills to the floor on Thursday so we can put up votes on passage, but House Democrats made excuses to block them. Apparently, not a single one of them cares about easing your cost burden. Meanwhile, we’re seeing headlines such as: “‘More than my car payment’: Minnesota drivers shocked by soaring tab fees” in Minnesota. House Democrat unaffordability Instead of joining forces with House Republicans to make life in Minnesota more affordable, Twin Cities liberals continue pushing bad ideas that will only make life even more expensive here. These are many of the same people who, in the former trifecta, spent your $18 billion surplus, increased state spending by 40 percent, and raised your taxes by $10 billion, after all. For example, in the House committee on labor this week, they presented one bill that would give $100 million in taxpayer money to businesses “impacted” by Metro Surge. This sounds an awful lot like the Promise Act, which the former trifecta enacted to provide $100 million to businesses “impacted by civil unrest, racial discrimination, and other barriers to funding.” Turns out it the only “promise” in the Promise Act may have been the state promising to not track the money, because KSTP-TV identified grant recipients that may not have been eligible for the money. The same committee on labor conducted a hearing for a bill from across the aisle that would raise the state sales tax by 3/8 of a cent to provide $400 million per year for affordable housing projects. There is zero incentive to contain construction costs if there is a government spigot pumping out money like that. If we want housing to be more affordable, we should just start by eliminating the costly, unnecessary mandates Democrats have passed that drive up costs. Let’s start by repealing the residential energy efficiency standards that add anywhere from $7,000-$15,000 to the cost of a home and will only get more expensive as time goes on because of a three-year review the Democrats passed in the last biennium. This was another chicken passed by the former trifecta that is now coming home to roost. It’s now around $130,000 cheaper to build a home in Indiana compared with a similar model in Minnesota. It’s also $50,000-$60,000 cheaper to build a home in Fargo than to construct a comparable in Moorhead. I have a bill to repeal the three-year review and help keep costs from continuing to spiral, but Democrats stopped it in its tracks. There will be a lot more to talk about on these and other subjects during the next five weeks. Stay tuned and, as always, your input is appreciated. Sincerely, Shane |