What’s to like, what’s not to like in Dayton’s budget?
Delight, disdain greet Dayton’s plan.
Like an inkblot test, reactions to Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget depended on who was looking at it.
Republicans zeroed in on the tax provisions in the proposal, which included expanding the sales tax to goods and services ranging from baby aspirin to haircuts.
“I don’t know how you can say you’re going to collect $2 billion more in sales tax and not have the people of the state pay that,” said Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie. “If you go out and get an oil change on your car, you’re going to pay a sales tax on it. If you go out and get a haircut, you’re going to pay a sales tax. If you join a health club. Those are things you are not paying sales tax on now.”
At the progressive coalition TakeAction Minnesota, executive director Dan McGrath applauded the tax changes.
“Minnesotans understand that we’re all a part of the same team and new investments won’t happen without new revenue,” McGrath said in a statement. “We thank Governor Dayton for his tenaciousness and vision in doing what is right for our state, not what is necessarily easy.”
