Phil Krinkie, St. Paul. column: To vote or not to vote — that is the question
September 19, 2011 at 9:50 pm in Grand Forks Herald
The tax would be levied over the next 30 years in order to fund a facility that thousands of people from all over the state and upper Midwest would use.
The people who will be taxed should have a voice. Continue Reading
I agree, if they are going to tax Ramsey County residents, there probably should be a referendum. However, here’s the point you’re missing.
The Vikings are a MINNESOTA institution, not a Ramsey County institution, and so ALL Minnesotans should have a say in this.
There are over 2.5 million Viking fans in Minnesota, which is roughly half the population. We may not all agree on how a new stadium should be financed, but virtually all of us would like to keep the Vikingsin Minnesota.
So I would argue that all Minnesotans have already voted, when we elected our state legislators. We voted for our representatives because we felt they were the best person to solve these difficult problems and make the difficult choices.
So, if the Ramsey County sales tax isn’t the answer, they should look at other options instead of just putting something to referendum they know will fail.
How about Racino? It has over 80% public approval by the people of Minnesota. Why is it that they want a vote on the Ramsey County sales tax, but they continue to completely ignore the people’s wishes on Racino?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0