As Democratic Health Chairs Berglin and Thissen rolled out their "Cover All Kids" legislation, the inevitable question came up: How do you pay for it? Like everything lately at the Capitol, the answer is the feds. Democrats aren't the only ones counting on the federal government for a bail out. As we know from the budget preview interviews Gov. Pawlenty has done, he's counting on the federal government for some dough to lessen the blow of state budget cuts.
Another source of potential revenue seems to be surfacing--expanding the sales tax to services. Some smart bi-partisan people have been studying the historic volatility of our budget shortfalls and surpluses; they have concluded that our sales tax is narrow. Now the governor of course won't take a true tax increase, so if services are taxes, he'd want the overall rate lowered so an entire package in revenue neutral. Speaker Kelliher has been dropping lots of hints about taxing services (like legal services, hair cuts, car repairs).