Minnesota’s gasoline tax would go up 20 cents a gallon under a transportation budget bill the Democrat-controlled Minnesota House passed Monday night. Crookston Republican Debra Kiel says one business owner warned her what will happen: “I go to North Dakota to get tobacco. I go to North Dakota to get something else, and then I just fill my gas tank, and all of a sudden I’m shopping… across the river.” Minneapolis Democrat Frank Hornstein responds gas prices have gone up 70 cents a gallon since January — and that money goes to oil companies. He asks, “Where’s the outrage about that? We have a plan where this modest gas tax increase, the money stays right here in our local communities.”
Leaders of the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate say they absolutely will not agree to a gas tax increase. Governor Tim Walz has been pushing hard for it.