Hey, Ron Erhardt

Yes, you. My district's representative in the Minnesota house, who've I've voted for any number of times since I moved to Cake Eater land almost ten years ago.

Ahem.

YOU'VE JUST LOST MY VOTE.

Jagoff.

People come to Minnesota from all over the region to buy clothing, in large part because the state charges no sales tax on clothes.

But now two state lawmakers from opposite sides of the aisle at the Capitol have introduced bills that would repeal that exemption. In exchange for that unpopular move, they would cut the sales tax rate for all taxable items.

"Monies from the sales tax are shrinking," State Representative Ron Erhardt, a Republican from Edina, told KARE 11.

"This would be a way to broaden the base we tax on and reduce the rate as a matter of fact."

Erhardt's bill would repeal the sales tax exemption clothing currently enjoys, and at the same time reduce the rate on all items from 6.5 percent to 5.96.

The competing sales tax reform bill from Brooklyn Park Democrat Melissa Hortman would lower the state sales tax rate to 4.5 percent. It would tax clothing, plus a long list of services and some food products.

Both Erhardt's and Hortman's plans offer income tax credits to lower income Minnesotans, to help offset the expected blow. The thinking behind the original exemption is that clothing, like food, isn't a discretionary expense.

{...}Representative Erhardt says he realizes it won't happen soon, but he wants to get the conversation going in the Legislature to bring some fiscal stability.

"I don't know if mine's a good idea," said Erhardt, "But that was the lowest we could come in at and the biggest pot of money readily available. So let's start here and start talking about it. ...

"I certainly don't want to be tagged with raising taxes!" Erhardt laughed, "After this last mess with the transportation bill."

Erhardt was one of six Republicans who crossed party lines to support the highways bill which increased gas taxes, license tab fees on new cars, and sales taxes in the Metro area.

Oh, really? You don't want to be "tagged with raising taxes" ? Bite me, asshole. Your idea of fiscal responsibility is not to cut spending---which, I hesitate to mention is regularly one of your campaign promises---but rather raising taxes. I'm not going to vote for you anymore. Christ. Like it doesn't already cost an arm and a leg to live in this friggin' state, you want to nickel and dime us some more? CUT SPENDING, JERKWEED. That's your solution to the problem.

I don't really care about a sales tax on clothes, because I know it won't happen. The Mall of Gomorrah is located in the Twin Cities for a reason, people, and they won't let it happen. To this day, I am still surprised every time I purchase an article of clothing and don't have to pay sales tax on it. This comes in handy when you're buying things like, say, suits for the husband, as you will have saved yourself $30 (or thereabouts) in sales tax. That may not be much overall, but that's money that can be spent elsewhere, like on, say, gasoline, which is over $3.00 a gallon these days. But the fact that this won't happen isn't so important as the whopping omissions Erhardt makes. He's telling us that, if his proposed legislation is passed, the overall effective rate would drop across the board to 5.65%, hence we'd be paying sales tax on a broader range of products, but we'd be paying less in sales taxes. That's his "fiscal responsibility" argument. But what dear old Ron is leaving out is this: the state's effective rate may drop to 5.65%, but he completely neglects to mention that many counties, like Hennepin, have added on a percentage point here or there to pay for things like, oh, I don't know, a state, county, and municipality subsidized ballpark for a BILLIONAIRE OWNER, as have local municipalities, who aren't so bold as to add on a full percentage point, but stick with halves and quarters, to pay for essential services the state won't cough up for. Like police and fire.

The husband is a retailer: he sells computer parts to people and he has to charge sales tax on these items. Wanna know how much sales tax is if you're running a business in the City of Minneapolis, already? 7.15%. 6.5% goes to the state; .5% goes to the City of Minneapolis; and .15% is levied by the county for the new new NEW Twinkie ballpark.

"But, Kath," you say, "if the state rate goes down, you'll be paying LESS in taxes." Uh, yeah, maybe on one item. But go to the mall, to buy clothes, and you'll be paying more. Go to purchase a service that perhaps didn't have to charge sales tax, but now does, and you'll be paying more. And you'll still have to pay for the municipal and county sales tax levies, which won't have gone down, but I'll betcha five bucks will go up, because they'll see the opportunity to keep sales tax at the same rate it's always been at, thinking no one will notice.

Fortunately, this won't happen. The state says "Bless you. Do you need a tissue?" every time the Mall of Gomorrah sneezes, so if this goes through, I'll be highly surprised. But the overall point is clear: Erhardt doesn't want to bother with the tedious business of cutting spending. He's all for raising taxes, and even if he claims that's the fiscally responsible thing to do, I'm not buying it.

I'm done with you, Erhardt.

Posted by Kathy at February 28, 2008 10:55 AM | TrackBack