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Hello from St. Paul,
The 2024 legislative session is over, and the year ended with a thud.
I’ve said many times the Democrats will raise taxes during times of surplus and during times of deficit. Even after record setting tax hikes last year, they managed to financially punish every business owner and every worker in this state once more.
Last session, House and Senate Democrats and Governor Walz agreed to spend a nearly $18 billion budget surplus, raise taxes by $10 billion, and grow state government by 40%.
Part of the majority’s spending spree last session was on the Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) plan. This nearly $3 billion program is paid for by a brand-new tax on employers and employees and expands employers’ leave obligations to part-time and temporary workers. This session the majority recognized $3 billion isn’t going to be enough to fund the program, so it approved another $735 million tax increase on Minnesotans on the final day of session.
The PFML bill was included in a mega omnibus spending proposal that the majority approved with minutes left in session. The 1,400-page bill also included spending relating to taxes, transportation, housing, labor, higher education, agriculture, energy, and human services. Also included is language relating to scope of practice and a binary trigger ban for firearms. No one had a chance to review this massive proposal prior to a vote being taken.
Combined with new laws that allow abortion until birth, punish law-abiding gun owners, and give free college, health insurance and drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants, the two-year cycle under this current majority has been extreme and unnecessarily chaotic.
Unfortunately, the radicals have taken over the Democrat party in the Minnesota Legislature and the results have been disastrous.
Talk to you soon,
Greg
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