Gov. Tim Walz’s budget proposal contained three surprises that suggest a move to the political middle.
First, by proposing a smaller budget in response to a forecast deficit, he signaled to all Minnesotans, especially his fellow Democrats, that there are limits to growth of state government.
That comes two years after he and the Legislature, then dominated by the DFL and managing a large surplus, made the biggest increase to state spending since the 1970s.
Second, he recommended curtailing growth of the two areas where state spending is growing fastest: Medicaid services and special education.
That’s bold. He’s already taking heat from people on both sides of the aisle who don’t recognize it’s both necessary and efficient to tackle the biggest problems before they get worse.
Third, he attempted to widen Minnesota’s sales tax to a variety of services, such as tax preparation and investment advising.
That recognizes a major economic change: Consumers spend greater portions of their incomes on services, while sales taxes apply mainly to goods. Legislators are unlikely to go along with that idea, though.
“There’s going to be some tweaks in there. There’s going to be some things they bring back,” Walz said in an interview Friday, the day after rolling out the proposal. “But this is pretty solid.”