Minnesota's Government Shuts Down

Politico reports:

Minnesota’s government shut down at midnight local time Friday after six months of negotiations between Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and the state’s Republican-controlled legislature failed to produce a budget compromise.

At a late-night capitol press conference attended by the very GOP legislators with which Dayton was sparring, the governor blamed Republicans for refusing to budge from a no-tax increase position.

“They would prefer to protect the richest handful of Minnesotans at the expense of everyone else, ” Dayton said. “Instead of taxing their friends, they would prefer very damaging cuts to healthcare, public safety, mass transit” and other state services.

Dayton a former senator elected in 2010, and GOP legislative leaders, who seized power in the 2010 GOP electoral wave, remain $1.4 billion apart in talks to close the state’s $5 billion budget deficit. Dayton said Republicans have refused to consider his initial proposal to raise income taxes on the top 2 percent of earners or a later suggestion to increase taxes on people who make $1 million or more — a group he said totals 7,700 in a state of 5.3 million people.

“I deeply regret that the last week of intense negotiations … have failed to bridge the divide between us,” Dayton said at a late-night capitol press conference. “Our major difference remains the same.”