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It’s especially hypocritical considering Murphy has politicized the I-35W bridge collapse from Day 1, proclaiming that another bridge was going to fall. It hasn’t, and it won’t.
Part of Murphy’s deception on the new transportation law is that he’s selling it as a gas tax increase only. In actuality, Murphy’s bill contains several tax increases, and most expensive of all (which he didn’t acknowledge) is the hike in license tab fees.
The bill also includes an optional one-half percent sales tax increase.
Let’s use this example. A Winona area family has two wage earners (combined $58,000/year) and owns two vehicles a nine-year old car ($15,000 new) that gets 22 mpg, and a one-year old truck ($35,000 new) which gets 17 mpg.
If they put more than 35,000 combined miles (slightly less than the rural Minnesota average) on these vehicles annually, they’ll spend more than $350 each year in gas tax and license tab fee increases. If the county passes the sales tax increase, the cost jumps to $500 a year.
Worse yet, his bill includes more than $1 billion for metro-area transit projects. Because of this, the state will spend billions more in the future to finish off these plans. These projects will eventually be paid for by southeastern Minnesota taxpayers, most of which will never even use these transit systems.
Folks, don’t be fooled.
Murphy is trying to deceive you into believing that you’ll only lose pennies a day through his new law.
This is the definition of political spin.
We must have government live within its means. This requires discipline in the use of existing taxpayer resources, rather than continuing to raise taxes like Murphy and his liberal colleagues continue to do.
The citizens of Minnesota are suffering from the high costs of gas, food and health care. We must stop increasing the cost of government.
As I’ve seen through much constituent correspondence, families cannot afford it.
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