Almanac: At the Capitol

There are so many pressing issues facing Minnesota — some of them new, some festering for years, that the best approach for the new Legislature is to think big, fitting individual policy initiatives into the framework of long-range strategic goals. We should begin by asking ourselves not just “What problems can't we avoid addressing anymore?” but “What kind of state do we want Minnesota to be 20, 30, even 50 years from now?” Once we reach some consensus on those questions, it should be fairly easy to determine what specific policy initiatives are likely to get us where we want to go — and which are likely to hinder our progress.

Although income inequity is not as pressing a problem in Minnesota as it is in other parts of the country, there is still work to be done. The Legislature should takes steps to reform the state’s tax system, turning its back on the regressive kinds of taxation it has come to rely on more and more in recent decades — property tax, sales tax, fees, tolls, etc. — and move in the direction of a truly progressive tax system. In the short term, it should resist siren calls to tax Internet purchases for anything but luxury items, and make it much more difficult for cities to levy “temporary” sales tax increases that inevitably turn out to be permanent tax increases. In addition, the Legislature should at least partially repeal the move toward full-market valuation for residential property taxes, and restore money stripped from the funding for state aid to the cities.

In transportation, the Legislature should look for bold solutions to our congested highways, polluted skies, and to our contribution to Global Warming. In an ideal world, it would devote an even higher percentage of gas tax revenues than called for by the recent referendum to fund initiatives like the one I have suggested for the Twin Cities (which could be adapted to other urban areas around the state); draw enough money from highway funds and general revenues to enable the Met Council to purchase 1,000 or more hybrid/bio-diesel buses, run them around the clock and let commuters ride free during rush hour periods. Not only would this pierce the class barrier that has relegated bus service in our community to the transportation choice of those who have no other choice, it would be far cheaper than creating a piecemeal LRT system one route at a time. In the long run, meanwhile, it would end up saving the state far more in foregone highway repairs and the related costs associated with pollution than the price of the buses plus their yearly operating expenses. It would also solve the difficulty businesses in places like Eagan have in tapping into a workforce for low-paying service jobs. For those Minnesotans worried about creeping socialism, the state could create a mechanism allowing private companies to operate these publicly funded bus systems. I don't care. Just so long as we get people out of their private cars and into public transportation.

Of course, no wish list for Minnesota could fail to include universal health care. Several proposals are on the table, but I'd like to see the Legislature choose the simplest plan and go with it. That means a single-payer system, however it is arranged. The brewing scandal at United Health Group should be all the incentive we need to clean up a profiteering health insurance industry in which costs keep skyrocketing even as health care becomes accessible to fewer and fewer people. We should start by asking ourselves just how many uninsured Americans could be covered for the $1.8 billion Bill McGuire was going to walk off with from UHG and, with that question burning in our minds, pitch into a thoroughgoing reform of the system.