The following headlines (below) were on the home page when you went to www.aol.com this morning. As you can see, it's a great time for a tax increase. Instead of reallocating funds from the HUGE budget they already have away from social programs which are outside the mandate of state government to roads and bridges which are one of their main mandates, they did what they do best: raise taxes and take more of our money. According to the state budget web site, they already have over $20 billion to work with every year (see MN State budget at http://www.budget.state.mn.us/budget/summary/pog/071130_pog.pdf). * Consumer Confidence Down on Job Worries * Wall Street Wobbles on Inflation News * S&P: US Home Prices Down Sharply * Home Depot Has First Annual Sales Dip * Wholesale Prices Jump in January * Sales Slowdown Drags on Target 4Q Profit * US Home Foreclosure Some people believe this this tax increase is much needed and some of them even call it "fair", but it is anti-consumer, anti-poor, and anti-middle class citizen. No tax is more regressive than a gas tax, but the DFL has been repeating the same lies long enough that even intelligent people now believe them when they say this tax increase is good for Minnesota. It is anything but good for Minnesota. On a local level in Savage, this tax increase all but guarantees that the levy and bond vote in the Prior Lake/Savage school district this fall will fail because people will still be angry over this tax increase and will be loathe to vote for another one. At least I can tell my kids that gas is now $3.05 a gallon rather than $3.00 a gallon while they sit in portable classrooms.