New Majority Project

The first paragraph of Pat Lopez’s story at startribune.com pretty much says it all:

Cigarette taxes would go up by 54 cents a pack, the liquor tax would be boosted for the first time in 20 years and top income-earners would be subject to one of the highest income tax rates in the country --9 percent -- under a $1.5 billion tax bill presented this morning as the DFL-led House's major revenue raiser.

That’s what referred to in some quarters as an opening bid.  My guess is that their Senate DFL counterparts will see the House’s ante, and raise them.  I suspect that, before the process plays out later in May (or June or July), we will see a bevy of new taxes that will make Minnesota even less hospitable to job creation and sock it to families already stretched thin by a very deep recession.

Fortunately for Minnesota, Governor Pawlenty’s veto pen and enough House Republicans to sustain the veto, stand between us and this irresponsible taxation. But that doesn't mean the liberal politicians and interest groups are going to walk away quietly.

All you Tea Partiers out there, there’s a lot of work to be done.