I must say that I am amazed at the GOP reaction to the property tax situation.
Rachel Stassen-Berger, whom all pols must certainly follow on twitter, had an article in the Strib on February 28.
"Minnesota property taxes hold steady, Revenue Department says" link: http://ow.ly/udNr4
which stated, among other things, that:
"Revenue Department officials found that city, county and school levies went up about $125 million this year, but that was before $133 million in state property tax aids and credits were returned to taxpayers."
Now many GOP functionaries repeatedly tweeted that the DFL had increased property taxes by $125 mil, WITHOUT mentioning the $133 mil in state property tax aids.
For example:
"@sclosmore Mar 03, 1:35pm via HootSuite ICYMI - House Non-Partisan Research: "Statewide, property taxes are increasing by $124 million" bit.ly/NNKNA7 #mnleg #stribpol"
This was re-tweeted multiple times by GOP functionaries who must have known better.
Have you ever bought a car and claimed that its cost was list, without deducting rebates, incentives, and discounts? The cost of a car is the net price you actually paid.
Simply put the GOP claims about property taxes are dishonest. And Minnesota voters are not stupid, contrary to the claims of many on the right.
Another amusing aspect of the property tax question is the 180 done by the GOP on this matter. When they were at the controls, and cut LGA, we were told that the subsequent increase of property taxes was not in their legislation. This was a decision to be made at the local level and thus they bore no responsibility.
Now we are being told that it is the Governor and legislature's fault that property taxes went up - even though they didn't. Again such inconsistencies will hopefully be made clear during the coming election.
Getting it wrong twice on this issue is standard operating procedure for people like Berg, Golnik, and Closemore.
