Flashback: Tina Smith’s Tax Broken Promise

Yesterday, Governor Mark Dayton appointed his Lt. Governor, Tina Smith, to fill the Senate seat vacated by disgraced Senator Al Franken. As Minnesotans become more familiar with Smith’s record though, they’ll be dismayed by what they find.

Most notably, Minnesota voters will see that Smith went back on one of the cardinal rules of politics: if you promise voters they’ll see no tax hikes, keep that promise. In 2013, Smith made one such promise, saying taxes on the middle class would not go up under a Dayton-Smith administration. However, in 2014, Dayton and Smith raised the gas tax which means middle class families paid more in taxes. Even worse, the 16 cent per gallon increase that they proposed would have been “the highest in state history”:

“So, under Dayton’s plan, the tax amounts to at least 16 cents per gallon, bringing the total gas tax paid at the pump to at least 44.5 cents per gallon. … Aside from two gas tax bumps decades ago that have been adjusted for inflation, the 16 cents per gallon increase would be the highest in state history.”

When it comes to taking money out of their pockets, voters have a long memory. Smith’s record show’s she’s wrong for Minnesota.