Almanac: At the Capitol

As of the moment I write this, the denizens of the Great State of Minnesota are still not sure whether their governor will sign, line-item veto or completely veto several key pieces of legislation.

We already know that what he says he intends to do has irritated a number of people. Take, for example, North Mankato's solidly (at least until yesterday) Republican mayor Gary Zellmer. Zellmer and the North Mankato city council were hoping that the state — meaning the legislature with the governor's imprimatur — would approve a half-cent local sales tax for that city so it could fund, without raising property taxes, a library expansion, park upgrades and other similar capital projects to improve the local quality of life.

Zellmer and the citizens of North Mankato have seen how successful Mankato's half-cent sales tax has been over the last decade. It has funded the city's civic center and its regional airport with nary a squawk from locals since the initial rending of clothes and gnashing of teeth when it was first being considered.

The reason why Mankato's sales tax has been so popular (if a tax can be popular), despite its proceeds going only to two large beneficiaries — one of which is a nearly direct subsidy for private aircraft owners — is that perhaps 50% or more of the tax is paid by non-Mankato residents — folks from outside the city visiting town to buy stuff, eat out, attend events, whatever.

Some tax purists say this is a form of taxation without representation, but those within the city say that visitors should pay something to use the municipality's roads, parks and other attractions. Even if the sales tax is going for something else — i.e., the civic center and airport — it is lessening the overall property taxes that locals must pay.

Logically enough, the North Mankato folks have seen this sales tax gravy train for quite a while and have been thinking, "Why can't we do that?"

And just as logically one might ask, "Why shouldn't they?"

It is an oddity of Minnesota that the state government must approve local sales taxes. In this sense the state government treats local governments like children: They must have Mommy's permission to do what Mommy does everyday. Does this make sense? Perhaps it once did, but it certainly does not do so today. Generally, government works best when it is closest to the people, and only decisions that cannot be determined solely at a more local level should be taken up by higher levels of government.

A local sales tax hardly fits into this category.

Which brings us back to Zellmer and Pawlenty. It is ironic that Zellmer's three local representatives — Sen. Kathy Sheran, Rep. Terry Morrow (North Mankato and St. Peter) and Rep. Kathy Brynaert (Mankato) — all good DFLers, supported North Mankato's sales tax initiative while the Republican Pawlenty, the leader of Zellmer's own party, stands poised to reject it. It's enough for a responsible mayor to ask: "Whose side is the governor on?"

While the governor and the Legislature have agreed on a number of strong issues this year — energy, the environment, the smoking ban, agriculture — in several key areas they have diverged, most notably tax policy, education and transportation. On these issues the governor has reverted to his past anti-tax stance designed to appeal to a certain portion of the citizenry — some might argue the majority — who, through lack of comprehension of the larger picture, look at taxes only as "bad," not as a necessary means to raise funds to pay for shared projects and services.

This is not the same Tim Pawlenty who portrayed himself in last year's campaign as a centrist with practical solutions for Minnesota's future. This is more like a man whose ego has been bruised because some of his pet projects and ideas were rebuffed, a governor who considers a veto pen more as a means of revenge than as a means to a shared goal.

If the governor goes through with the vetoes that he has seemed to indicate, would it be the action of a cold, cunning politician who is not bothered by dissing fellow Republicans like Mayor Zellmer? Or would it be indicative of his supreme confidence that he can portray himself and his party once more as centrists in '08, gambling that the majority of Minnesota voters, like all voters worldwide, have very short memories, and that they will forget the angst he seems inclined to reap in '07?