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Health & Fitness

The DFL's New Taxes: everyone pays more

The new “Tax Incidence Analysis” by the Minnesota Department of Revenue’s Tax Research Division confirms that the 2013 DFL tax bill will result in Minnesotans of every income range paying more taxes (see table 1 of the analysis). 

Is this what DFL leaders mean when they claim that the 2013 session allowed them to do everything they promised? If so, one has to ask, “To whom were the DFL making promises?”

Did the DFL make promises to Vikings’ owner Zygi Wilf or to low-income folks who are smokers? Given their posturing on behalf of the low-income and against the “one percent,” one would expect the DFL were making promises to the former. Yet Zygi will get a guaranteed multi-million dollar state subsidy for his Viking’s stadium, and low-income smokers will pay a disproportionate chunk of a $200 million tobacco tax increase. 

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Did the DFL make promises to the government or to citizens? The budgets passed by the DFL will add hundreds of new state employees, increase government salaries, expand a multitude of state powers, and build a brand new $100 million Senate office building (a provision snuck in to the tax bill in the final hours of session). On the other hand, Minnesota citizens of every income level will get a tax increase.

The DFL campaigned heavily on taxing the rich. Our lives were going to get substantially better once the very wealthy were taxed more. While tax fairness is important and a goal that I support, I would suggest that what the DFL have given us is a classic example of cutting off one’s nose to spite the face. Yep, they raised taxes on the rich – and the rest of us, too.

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A HAPPY 4TH of July from Senator Dan Hall

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. While serving their newly declared country, at least four of the signers were captured by the British and imprisoned during the war.  

They signed the document and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? Twenty four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, one was a minister; men of means, well educated. 

But, they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured. 

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. 

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward. Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Ellery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire, destroying his own home.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, who was subjected to quite cruel conditions.  She subsequently died in coming months as a result of the toll taken on her by her captivity.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Robert Morris, a wealthy merchant before the war, is often credited as being single-handedly responsible for financing the revolutionary war and financially coming to the aid of the burgeoning young nation.  He died in relative poverty. 

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild eyed, rabble rousing ruffians. They were soft spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. 

They pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." Their sacrifice helped give you and me a free and independent America.

 

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