Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (Democrat) has a mixed record on taxes, having voted for tax increases that angered Republicans while also breaking with Democrats to extend Republican tax cuts.
As a member of the House of Representatives in 2012, Walz was one of 19 House members who voted for a Republican bill to extend George W. Bush-era tax cuts, prior to a bipartisan agreement with then-President Obama.
The Republican Plan Passed the House of Representatives The vote was 256 to 171, with almost all of the no votes being Democrats.
The Republican plan that Walz supported, which defeated a Democratic proposal that passed the Senate, would have allowed for higher taxes on income, dividends, capital gains, and dividends on households earning more than $250,000. The plan would have raised federal revenue by Approximately $100 billion.
Walz also voted to extend the Bush tax cuts in 2010 and then, like most Democrats, voted again as part of President Obama’s proposal.
Walz sided with Republicans on tax issues early in his career, but in 2017 he joined 188 Democrats in voting against former President Trump’s flagship tax bill, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Not a single House Democrat voted for the bill, key parts of which were set to expire in 2026.
Walz also drew criticism from Republicans for his fiscal problems as governor, including planning what he called a “transformative” 2023 budget, the largest in the state’s history.
“One day [when] “We have a record $17.6 billion surplus and Minnesotans expect to see it returned,” Minnesota House Minority Leader Lisa DeMuth, a Republican, said last year.
“Unfortunately, what we heard was that Minnesota is spending and it’s going to cost Minnesotans a little bit more to be here. That was a little surprising. If we can’t cut taxes now, when can we?” she said.
The Harris-Waltz duo has received a flurry of support from Democrats and has received praise from Silicon Valley luminaries, including investor and TV personality Mark Cuban.
“People are tired of the ideology and hatred of both parties. They want to vote for someone they can relate to. Walz is sitting at his kitchen table, feeling like he’s [known] I love him forever,” he wrote. Online on Tuesday morning.
