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Legislative Watch
LEGISLATIVE

Minnesota

12/15/04-Minnesota needs an aggressive new array of taxes and fees to pump an extra $1 billion a year into its declining transportation system, statewide county leaders said this week.
The Association of Minnesota Counties plan relies mainly on raising the 20-cents-a-gallon fuel tax to 30 cents over two years – plus indexing it to increases in road construction costs – and allowing increases in local-option half-cent sales taxes for transportation. Other funding strategies also is included.
According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the initiative has bipartisan sponsorship in the Legislature, but it faces a formidable obstacle in Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who opposes state tax increases.
“There’s going to be lots of good discussion about this,” House sponsor Michael Beard, R-Shakopee, said, adding: “I don’t know if it has a snowball’s chance in you-know-where.”
The association’s plan calls for 5-cent increases in each of the next two years – eventually raising $326 million annually.

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