On Nov. 4, Minnesota voters will be asked to consider a constitutional amendment establishing a designated fund for natural resources and the arts. I discovered some very interesting facts about this amendment.
Have you seen the ad on TV showing a woman kneeling by water that looks dirty and another scene with dead fish floating in the water? It goes on to say a large percentage of our lakes and water ways are polluted -- and we need to restore them -- so vote "yes" on Nov. 4 for natural resources.
My immediate response to that ad was "I'm going to vote for that," but then I was watching the news one evening and a reporter looked into that ad. He said when the ad says a large percentage of our lakes and waterways are polluted, that's not entirely true because they have tested just a small percentage of them. Then he went on to say that they have tried to pass a natural resource tax before but it never made it to a vote until this year, when they tacked on "the arts." He then explained this state tax increase from 6.5 to 6.8 percent will raise more than $300 million a year and of that $300 million, "the arts" will get 20 percent, which will be $60 million -- and that this isn't just a one-year tax or a five- year tax or even a 10-year tax. It's a 25-year tax that will result in more than $9 billion.
This is "pork barreling" at its finest. Our country is in an economic crisis, and they want us to pass this?? People, we need to be informed. The political ads on TV can mesmerize us into believing and voting for something that is not entirely true.
I hope you will carefully consider this tax increase before voting on Nov. 4. We can't keep accepting tax increases! They already raised the gas tax and are considering raising it more, the town of Worthington is also asking for a tax increase and they all point out the small amount it will be for each person -- but somewhere it has to stop.
