Minnesota's economy suffers stagnation in investment, construction and consumption for a number of reasons that relate to legislative public policy. I will promote private sector job creation through the lowering of taxes on business and the reduction or removal of burdensome regulations and permits.
The State of Minnesota spends $114,155.25 per minute. There is one State employee for every forty households in Minnesota. The State is the biggest employer in Minnesota. This simply has to stop.
Until Minnesota businesses are confident that the legislature understands finance and fiscal responsibility, there will be little business optimism. As a small business owner and a Certified Management Accountant, I understand finances and fiscal responsibility.
For the size of Minnesota's revenue stream, we are running too many parallel and duplicate bureaucracies. Minnesota government is simply involved in too many programs contrived to take even the slightest personal risk and responsibility out of our culture.
Bureaucracies may begin with legislative initiatives, but the dependencies they cause permeate local government. Efforts to reduce the size of government will be met with cries of protest from all quarters and from all levels of government.
The economic danger is that when entrenched state bureaucracy is trimmed, it tends to re-emerge at the local level in the form of city and county programs. The result of local governments raising taxes to pay for these programs is the same tax structure that, even now, is driving businesses and their employees across state borders. The answer must be a net reduction in government spending at all levels.
Capital hates uncertainty. Investment capital flees uncertainty. Currently Minnesota businesses are, or should be, worried about radical environmentalism in a number of forms.
Cap and Trade, born of the global warming pseudo-science paradigm, looms as a risk factor over Minnesota and the entire nation. This unreasonable risk factor will increase the cost of doing business in Minnesota. The result is a lower return on investment and consequently less investment.
It's hard to imagine that Minnesota will be seen as a business-friendly state until we get the radical environmental monkey off our backs. So long as radical environmental interests strongly influence the DNR, MPCA and the Legislature, business sees a threatening malignant tax policy ahead.
Source: http://www.carlson4senate.com/issues.htm
