I'm just catching my breath!! I figured we'd be seeing a little diplomacy and dancing around in the legislature before our newfound DFL majority would be talking tax hikes and major spending increases. At least a month or two, I figured.
I couldn't have been more wrong. Ya gotta admire their hutzpah, those Democrats!
Let's step up to the plate first with the gas tax. There IS a healthy appetite for more spending for roads in key Republican areas like the suburbs, but the rub for Republicans has always been what is seen as a siphoning off of car-based revenue to fund buses (and "transit") in the core cities. These deep suspicions are only being fueled by Hennepin County's announced intentions of handing off its property tax subsidy of the Hiawatha line to the state, as well as handing over the soon-to-lapse, large federal subsidy of the same project. However much its supporters argue for its success, light rail bleeds money. Lots of it.
Republicans, for whom the "wildly successful" Hiawatha line is little more than an urban toy, can be expected to resist this. Yet the depth of the congestion problem on the highway grid will make it hard for them not to go along with some kind of tax increase, notwithstanding strong statements from the Pawlenty folks to date against it. The same is true with license plate fees. And, like it or not, the Democrats have the votes to force the issue on sharing car revenue for transit.
This has quickly emerged as a major issue this session. And since it's about BIG money, it'll be a hot one.
I couldn't have been more wrong. Ya gotta admire their hutzpah, those Democrats!
Let's step up to the plate first with the gas tax. There IS a healthy appetite for more spending for roads in key Republican areas like the suburbs, but the rub for Republicans has always been what is seen as a siphoning off of car-based revenue to fund buses (and "transit") in the core cities. These deep suspicions are only being fueled by Hennepin County's announced intentions of handing off its property tax subsidy of the Hiawatha line to the state, as well as handing over the soon-to-lapse, large federal subsidy of the same project. However much its supporters argue for its success, light rail bleeds money. Lots of it.
Republicans, for whom the "wildly successful" Hiawatha line is little more than an urban toy, can be expected to resist this. Yet the depth of the congestion problem on the highway grid will make it hard for them not to go along with some kind of tax increase, notwithstanding strong statements from the Pawlenty folks to date against it. The same is true with license plate fees. And, like it or not, the Democrats have the votes to force the issue on sharing car revenue for transit.
This has quickly emerged as a major issue this session. And since it's about BIG money, it'll be a hot one.
