shared sacrafice

This is a big week in Minnesota politics--the legislative session is supposed to draw to a close and a budget has yet to be passed.

I haven't been following the issue that closely but certainly understand that Dayton wants to tax "the rich" while the GOP promises no tax increase.

I honestly don't know what the right answer is.  But, I have strong feelings that if tax rates are to rise then they should rise for everyone.  It's far too easy for politicians and taxpayers alike to see increased taxes as part of a solution when most of them won't be paying them. And that's just not right. Everyone needs to have skin in the game. Otherwise if you want taxes to rise, but not your own, then i say "buzz off."

I have the same feeling about sin taxes. It seems every time there's a financial mess in St. Paul that smokers and drinkers get pinched a little bit more.  If you want to tie some of those sin taxes to smoking avoidance measures, or something else related to the "problems" of smoking and drinking, then fine. But, I don't think it's right to increase sin taxes and use those funds for general revenue purposes.

To that point, if we're going to further restrict smokers through taxation and prohibiting them from leaving their homes, why don't we just make smoking illegal. That makes more sense to me that the silliness of making it illegal to smoke in your own car if your car is on Hennepin county property.