Fraud and Government Greed Leads to Deficit
by Senator Steve Green
Minnesota continues to barrel towards a budget deficit. It’s not surprising to anyone paying attention. The Democrat Trifecta spent two years engaging in runaway spending. Where has it gotten us? Staring at a looming $5.4 billion deficit. This is not new news, though. A few years ago, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) first brought the deficit to light. Republicans have brought it up numerous times, trying to get the Walz Administration to act. But Democrat leadership has failed to do so. Instead of addressing the problem, they’ve doubled down. We’ve seen higher taxes and fraud happening in multiple agencies. Wasteful spending at every opportunity. Our spending continues to outpace our revenue as well. All of this makes for little-to-no economic growth, and worsens our financial outlook.
MMB did note that we will have a short-term surplus in 2026-2027, totaling $2.465 billion, before the deficit hits in 2028-2029. Democrats will try to twist this as a good thing… Don’t fall for it. Their spending has gotten us to this position. We would have to not spend a cent of that surplus in order to start dealing with our deficit. I don’t see that happening. Remember, we had a historic surplus just a few years ago – it was near-$19 billion before accounting for inflation, and would’ve been a much higher number if we accounted for it. Where did all that money go? Spent away by the trifecta on pet projects and propping up new state agencies. They did all that alongside passing $10 billion in tax hikes. That did little to help. Those tax hikes may have given us a small surplus for the next few years, but it won’t hold up. Democrats will likely continue calling for higher taxes to cover financial losses. Our state can’t afford that. I’ve talked to a lot of families in my district – not a single one has said they want higher taxes… Everyone wants tax relief.
Fraud is obviously also hurting us. So far, there’s been over $1 billion uncovered. I believe there’s more to come. This is something we’ve been talking about in our state for years, even though it’s just now making national headlines. We’ve seen it with Feeding Our Future, the Housing Stability Services program, childcare providers, autism providers, commercial driver’s licenses, and so much more. It’s endless. The more we spend on programs like that while failing to provide basic oversight, the more money we’re throwing away to fraud. We’ve spent so much money on healthcare services, only to find a bunch of programs under scrutiny due to fraud allegations. Every dollar going to fraudsters gaming these programs is a dollar taken out of our budget and away from taxpayers. It also means people who truly need help and access to these services cannot access them. Every single person in our state should be upset by this.
Economic growth has also practically stagnated here, and we’re all feeling it. The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce recently released its Business Benchmarks Report, ranking Minnesota 38th with 1% GDP per capita annual growth, 40th for labor force growth, and 41st in net domestic migration. Our state is falling behind on every metric that counts. Having a massive deficit, increasing spending, and raising your taxes year after year doesn’t help things either. Who would want to move their family here if this is the climate they’re facing? What business owner would want to do business here if they’re being taxed endlessly? We’re already seeing families and businesses looking elsewhere for a more favorable living climate. It will only get worse. If this isn’t proof Minnesota’s in a bad spot, I don’t know what is.
I’m concerned about this – I think we’re worse off than many are realizing. Between our failing budget and our state being overrun with fraud, we’re in a bad spot. And unfortunately in the middle of all of this, Democrats have repeatedly tried to blame higher property taxes on Trump. I want to remind everyone the Walz Administration suggested saving the state government money by shifting taxes onto the counties. The trifecta also passed numerous unfunded mandates affecting local schools and communities. Of course many areas have considered higher property taxes – it has everything to do with state policies. Remember, when the state government shifts costs to counties, it saves YOU nothing.
Minnesota families asked for relief, and those requests have been ignored by the same people allowing fraud and higher taxes to freely occur. And who foots the bill? We do. It’s time for change. Uncovering this fraud and getting our budget under control will be two of my biggest priorities in the upcoming legislative session. We owe it to Minnesota families.