Worse than the rebate checks, however, were the two reductions in personal income tax rates that also were implemented under Jesse Ventura. The rebate checks did not mandate actions or costs into the future. The tax rate reductions, however, have reduced the revenue received by the state every year. How much has this cost the state?

According to a fiscal analyst for the Minnesota State Senate, revenue for the next two years would have been $2.2 billion higher. Though this revenue increase would not alone solve the current budget crisis, two points become clear. First, a major portion of the budget shortfall can be traced to those reductions in tax rates implemented at the end of an unprecedented period of economic growth. Second, the issue of revenue must be part of the solution to the current shortfall.

The danger posed by the rate reductions was understood early by Pam Wheelock, Gov. Ventura’s finance director. In fact, she advised him to raise taxes and reduce spending in order to avoid a major shortfall she saw coming during his last year in office. Sadly, in that election year of 2002, both major parties chose to hide the bad news from the electorate and instead found a short-term fix that only made things worse.

Remember the logic that supported both the rebates and the tax rate reductions. We were told that if the government had a budget surplus, rates must be too high. Therefore individual income tax rates were cut. The corollary would be that if the state has a deficit, rates must be too low. Politicians who had pushed for the rate cuts, however, understood that it is much easier politically to cut taxes than it is to raise them.

We hear often from our governor and the Republican Party that Minnesotans are overtaxed. The reality may be different: According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, in 2006 Minnesota’s total state and local tax burden was 16.9 percent of income. This was exactly the average in the country and ranked us 26th among states. At the national level, a survey of industrialized countries found that we ranked 36th of 38 countries in tax revenue as a percent of GDP.

While we cannot restore the previous tax rates on all Minnesotans during the most severe recession since the Great Depression, we can discuss tax rates for the highest income earners. The discussion about our fiscal crisis must include the revenue side. It must also be mindful of the consequences of cutting tax rates during an economic boom.

Kenneth Zapp is professor and chair of the College of Management at Metropolitan State University.