DL-Online – Area Voices Detroit Lakes, Minnesota Published: August 31, 2011 2:06:19 PM CDT
Maybe it’s a Republican conspiracy to drive DFL Gov. Mark Dayton over the edge.
Or may be it just shows breathtaking chutzpa.
Whatever the case, Dayton is understandably irate about a claim by Republican State Rep. Greg Davids that it was Dayton — not the Republican legislative leadership — that proposed ending the Market Value Homestead Credit, a tax shift that is resulting in higher property taxes across the state.
If we remember right — and it wasn’t that long ago — Dayton wanted to raise income taxes on the rich.
He had to accept higher property taxes instead as part of a settlement to end the 20-day government shutdown.
Republicans went to the mat over “no new taxes.”By that they mean income taxes, apparently, since their policy is resulting in higher property taxes from Austin (15 percent) to St. Louis County (5.7 percent) to Beltrami County (7 percent) and almost certainly to Detroit Lakes and Becker County.