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No taxes means somebody pays

To the editor:
Gov. Pawlentyís new budget takes from those who canít afford it and who are not in a position of power and takes very little from those who have the most.
It damages average hard-working Minnesotans by cutting early childhood education, youth programs, health care and prenatal screening.
It assaults poor Minnesotans by cutting child care, WIC and child support collection.
It endangers our most fragile by cutting assistance for disabled children and adults, battered womenís shelters and repeals the expansion of a prescription drug program for seniors.
Buy shrinking and combining funds from multiple state programs, it forces counties to choose who will be served - a senior citizen, a needy child or a disabled adult.
This is not sharing the pain of the deficit.
It is balancing the budget at the expense of the most vulnerable members of our society.
It is not good planning for the future or what is fair for our society.
In fact, deprivation in many of these areas will cost much more money to repair in the future.
These policies do not reflect the kind of Minnesota I want to live in.
If you want me to share the pain then you can raise my taxes to help pay for these people. It is not fair to balance state expenses on the backs of women, children, the disabled and seniors.
I heard Republicans on the radio saying that state expenses have gone out of line. That is not true. Our current mess came from a federal tax cut and a slump in the economy. Our expenses have remained pretty much the same. It is a sag in our revenue that has caused this problem, not a huge growth in expenses.
When the Governor says he will not raise taxes, he means no increase in state taxes, but that means that local communities will have their taxes go up to pay for the money that the state will not give them.
So we pay more in taxes anyway. It is just to the local government instead of the state.
Barbara Kruschel
Cambridge

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