What should Minnesota do with its budget surplus? Live
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What Minnesotans have to say about the projected budget surplus
Thanks to everyone who submitted their ideas through this page and on social media. And thanks to everyone who voted on their favorite.On Monday, we had MPR News politics reporter Briana Bierschbach discuss some of your ideas and what they might look like if they are implemented. You can read/hear more here: https://bit.ly/2BaAPmWHere are the results from the voting round. Stay tuned for more reporting on the projected surplus!1) Surplus? That's OUR money! They took more than they need, as always. Return it to the people that paid taxes!
283 votes
2) Put it in a rainy day fund. The surplus is a beneficiary of a booming economy. When the next downturn occurs (soon) the state will need that money
225 votes
3) Education, split 50:50 between K-12 and the University System.
184 votes
4) The should put the money into improving public transit and consider expanding commuter rail to communities outside of the Twin Cities metro.
135 votes
5) Please use the surplus to address homelessness, food scarcity and poverty. It's not a surplus if these problems are still happening in our state.
110 votes
6) Since interest rates are going up, I think we should focus on infrastructure repairs so that we do not incur additional debt/interest payments from bonding.
96 votes
7) Invest in building and preserving housing that is affordable for all ages and income levels.
42 votes
8) Fund green energy projects to combat climate change.
85 votes
9) Lower property taxes!
36 votes
9) Health care cost management as I just heard we lost 100 million in federal funds for our low income rebate program.
36 votes
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Pass a budget which includes a large pay increase for direct service providers and caregivers for those with disabilities and the elderly. These are difficult jobs. There is an employee crisis as it is nearly impossible to fill these important positions when wages are so low.
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Stop taxing Social Security. Minnesota is one of a handful of states that still tax Social Security.
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#1. Stop taxing Social Security income. #2. Lower property taxes. #3. Refinance loan assistance. #4. Additional Guardian Ad Litem funds for children affected by the Opioid crisis.
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Invest at least a third to a half in infrastructure and internet grid. Half of the rest should be property tax refunds. Save the rest for the future
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Also we could invest in renewable energy and equal or exceed California's research and development
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Well, it is our money and this is obviously Ya being over taxed. That said, it’s money that’s already collected and should be spent wisely. I suggest more affordable housing and investment in early childhood development. Then we should probably figure out how to balance the budget a little closer to 0.
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Follow the lead of Australia, save when the times are good to be used when the times are bad
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How about addressing mental health issues. Especially in our schools.
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Fund programs to end homelessness and green energy projects to combat climate change. Businesses who contributed to these problems should be asked to share the cost.
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Save it. We don't know how the trade wars will hit our tax payers, we might not have as much come in next year.
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Use the funds to address disparities in housing, healthcare, education, green energy and transportation in both urban and rural communities. We already learned how useless and destructive to our state individual “rebates” and tax “reforms” have been. Let’s keep investing in our people and ensuring our air, lakes, rivers are clean and forests are all preserved for the next generations.
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Rural High speed internet for outstate. We should treat the internet like we treated rural electrification in the 1930s.
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Half for a rainy day (there will be future years when things are not going to be as good) and half invest in the future of MN (e.g. education, growing aging population)
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Putting money down to transit (including setting aside a lot more money long-term) and transportation.
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Start a program to build true Botanical Gardens as close to the CBDs and parking as possible. Free of straight paths, bicycles, skaters, power walkers, dogs and any activity which needs people to call out "on your left".
Keep the money out of the grubby hands of our legislators. Remember the tobacco money? No one else can either. -
Infrastructure, homeless, how about the no mpls river project that had to rely on donations to get it started? Rural communities ....
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The non-partisan MN Council of Economic Advisors have long noted that our surplus is largely illusory because we don't fully account for inflation in state spending.
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I've overpaid my taxes. When I over pay in any other transaction, I get a refund.
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Free school lunches for all public school kids...schools shouldn't have to have Gofund me pages in order to provide lunches for students
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Sure up your pension system. The only thing Minnesota and Kentucky have in common is their underfunded pension systems. It needs to be fixed.
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Give the group homes and day training programs back the 7% MN DHS arbitrarily cut on July 1st. We need to pay human service workers that take care of the disabled a living wage, certainly not cut their funding again.
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use it to address the institutional challenges of poverty, racism, and sexism.
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The DMV could use some extra personnel. People are spending 3 hours waiting in line for a driver's license, which then arrives 6 months later. This doesn't speak well of a usually efficient state.
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A $1.5 billion surplus is about one month's expenses. I do not think it is excessive to throw it into the rainy day fund *or* to spend some money for future expenditures that will be needed (as with roads and bridges). Sending back checks or lowering tax rates based on the surplus just means the next recession will require that taxes be raised, at a time when lots of people will be hurting. Let's talk rebates after the next recession if we come out of it with a surplus.
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Use it for education, but primarily use it to bridge the learning gap between students of color and white students
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They should put the money in the schools, pay of the stadium, so tax’s payers are not paying interest on that for the next 30 yrs and fund a number of road projects, most importantly 35 494 interchange. I know it won’t happen cause the brilliant minds that we put in office can’t even valence there check books. Thanks for listening
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I am 66 years old and have experienced at least two tax "give backs" with both followed by down turns in the economy and a need to increase taxes & cut spending. Tax "give backs" are always short sighted. I like the idea of investment in green energy, North Star to St. Cloud, & building workforce housing.
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"Tax credit, rebate, refund, etc. Whatever you want to call it, give some of it back to the taxpayers. And stop taxing social security income." — Anonymous
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"Smart investments in the areas that matter most for the future such as renewable energy, education and health care." — Jon Reynolds
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"Keep some for a rainy day fund and with the remainder, give Minnesotans the choice to either take their portion back in economic stimulus or pay it forward toward the most necessary areas (infrastructure, education, housing, etc.)" — Jenny
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"Please put more money into education and don’t tie up the money in test scores. Give money to the schools and allow them to do what’s best with the money, because it’s their job to know what students REALLY need. You invest in your own future when you invest in kids." — Anonymous
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"Adequately fund our current programs rather than cutting funding. Then help the homeless and educate our population." — Anonymous
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"First, rebuild crumbling infrastructure. How many bridges need to be repaired or replaced in our state? Second, focus on the children and eliminate the achievement gap. Third, address behavioral health challenges." — Leann Wolff
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"Fund green energy projects to combat climate change." — Kevin
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"It should be returned to tax payers, that probably won't happen so instead of a gas tax use it for infrastructure repairs and to help lower health care costs lower property taxes." — Anonymous
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"EDUCATION! Teachers are leaving their beloved profession because their schools are falling apart, they’re getting abused by the students, and they’re severely under appreciated financially and socially. Plus, our children deserve the teachers that care the most about them!" — Anonymous
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"Restore funding to programs that have seen multiple cuts over the years. There are programs that have been crippled over the years from budget cuts and desperately need some renewed funding." — Charlie Peliska
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"Return the money to the taxpayers!" — T Simonson
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"Give out small business innovative research grants to companies transitioning to more renewable and sustainable business models to fight climate change, Also: do something significant about our ridiculous student loans. Apply it to education and climate change, in any order." — Josh Borchardt
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"Let's pay for 2-year college programs for low-income families!" — Cole Hanson
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"Spread it out between rural, tribal, and low-income area schools and libraries. Fund positions for media specialists in schools. And give a small portion to infrastructure renewal." — Sara
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"Solar panels for government buildings, then education." — Andrew
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"Save half, spend half on K-12 education." — Anonymous
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"Save a bunch for rainy days. They will come, ya know. And use that which is truly a surplus to play catch-up on infrastructure. Infrastructure has lots of benefits for nearly everyone ... more jobs, better transportation (both highways and transit), safer roads, ... DO NOT USE IT TO FUND TAX CUTS until we have several years of budget surpluses that clearly show we can lower rates." — Lee Cornell