Digital News Report – The Minnesota state government has shutdown after they have approached a budget deficit because government officials have not come up with an acceptable budget proposal.
Governor Mark Dayton announced that they needed to reduce the state’s budget. They need to bridge a $5 billion deficit. The last offer still had a $1.4 billion deficit. Dayton proposed increasing taxes to the people making $1 million per year, in order to bridge the spending gap. There are only around 7,700 Minnesotans that would see the tax increase, which he said amounts to only 0.3 percent of the states taxpayers. Republicans rejected the proposal. Dayton said that some of the Republicans in state office are friends with those very rich.
Dayton said that this shutdown would begin during the Fourth of July weekend. He said that he can’t see how government officials could let a person with disabilities go without care, because they do not want to see millionaires in the state to have to pay more in taxes. He said that cuts on basic services such as fire, police, and more will all happen because taxes would not increase on the very rich.
Dayton said that he would continue to work to find a “fair and balanced compromise.”
Dayton said that they have made a lot of progress in the last couple of days because of the deadline. He said that the biggest disagreement is the issue of raising taxes on the very wealthy.
By: Mark Williams