ST.PAUL Minn. — Governor Tim Walz’s proposal to send Walz Checks from surplus state revenues to every Minnesotan has Republicans in confused tizzies. Walz is a Democrat up for re-election. The State Senate president, Jeremy Miller, R-Winona derided the proposal as a “gimmick.” Some Republicans went to another extreme, calling the $175 checks too little. Their point: Walz should return every surplus dollar to the people – not just $4.4 billion but the whole $7.7 billion surplus.
Verbatim
Paul Gazelka, R-East Gull Lake, former State Senate majority leader and a gubernatorial candidate, called for “permanent” tax cuts,” not just returning money when there’s surplus revenue.
Scott Jensen, R- Chaska. a former state senator and gubernatorial candidate: said this about the $7.7 billion: “This is not a surplus. This is an overpayment.” He offered this analogy: “If you went to your accountant and you did your taxes, and they said, ‘Geez, you overpaid $3,000.’ you wouldn’t ask what’s going to happen. It would be paid back. It has to be paid back one way or another.”
Neil Shah, a Minneapolis dermatologist and a gubernatorial candidate: “Tim Walz wants to give you 175 bucks and then put an income cap on that. That’s how little of this he wants to give back. So we have to re-frame the entire debate. Now I’m agnostic on which taxes we cut, but that’s all of our money and it needs to be back in our pockets.”
Mike Murphy, the mayor of Lexington and a gubernatorial candidate, said the surplus should go back only to people who paid taxes: “We have to make sure this money is going back to those who actually paid in — not to everybody.”
Fact: Walz cannot unilaterally send out checks. He needs legislative approval for spending.