Ready for some good news?
Hint: Minnesota followed the progressive Democratic plan of increasing taxes on the wealthy, investing in infrastructure and in people, and providing benefits for those in need. And it worked.
When Democrat Mark Dayton became governor in 2011, he inherited, from a Republican administration and legislature, a budget deficit of $6.2 billion and an IOU to state schools of another $2 billion. Unemployment was 7%.
Among other things, Minnesota under Gov. Dayton increased taxes for those earning above $150,000, raised the minimum wage, and passed a law guaranteeing women equal pay. All the things that Republicans say will kill jobs and make the deficit skyrocket. In addition he created a system of online voter registration to make it easier.
In four years, despite state income taxes now being the 4th highest in the country, the economy has added 172,000 new jobs, unemployment has fallen below 3.6%, and there is a budget surplus of $1.2 billion.
Contrast this with Kansas, which followed the Republican austerity playbook of cutting taxes for the "investor class," slashing spending for schools and safety net benefits, eliminating government jobs programs, and trying to make it harder for people to vote. Kansas schools had to end the school year early, when they ran out of money. Their economy is horrible, and the state had a huge deficit despite crippling spending cuts that gave them no choice but to raise taxes -- which they did with a sales tax, which of course is the kind of tax that will hurt the lower income citizens the most. All because they just have to give those rich people their tax cuts.
How many times does this natural experiment have to be repeated to prove that the Republican plan just does not work -- and that the Democratic plan does work?
Ralph
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