Piecemeal Cuts Are Okay

Minnesota has a $6.2b budget deficit.  The economy is fragile.  How to solve the problem?

Mark Dayton won the governor's race proposing to close the gap by tapping top earners for an additional $4b.

Raising taxes so aggressively--in an economy this weak--is a bad idea.  The best way to balance the state's budget is to cut government spending--focusing when possible on the reduction of middle-class subsidies, phasing out the mortgage interest rate deduction and ending state preferences for politically-fashionable forms of energy production--for starters.

Solving such a huge fiscal problem will likely require a tax hike component; it should be kept to a minimum--no more than one-quarter of the overall package.

Democrats who don't like the $900m in spending cuts included in HF130 should propose alternative cuts of equal magnitude.