Figured you'd find an opening there.

Love those emoticons. Wish I could find some of the really cool ones that work on a Mac.

And you think voting for this will fix it? It's not even dedicated to the outdoors. I would wager that by the time it does pass, the majority of it will be going to arts and other stuff that already gets a lot of our tax money.



I only disagree with you on the fact of throwing in a few more dollars. Arts already get a lot and should be self supported to begin with. I grew up playing violin and then the upright bass. I still love classical music. I love to go to plays, been to the ballet a few times, other types of shows. Orchestras are still great to go to. The music that I did throughout school gave me a love for playing music and served me well in a rock band. Anyway, all that being said, I won't support it cause they don't know how to budget. They'll be back in ten more years asking for more. You have to cut them off and expect them to budget at some point in their political career or we need to vote them out.

Shane, you're an arts wimp too! Cool! We both love the arts and differ on how to fund it. The difference is small, the common ground large, and worth building on.

I have kind of thought that about you, especially when you icefish in Mukluks




Never would have guessed that

I have the warmest feet on the ice in my Steger mukluks, even though I have a hard time convincing Pac boots lovers to put their 10-pounders on the shelf and go light for warmth.

I'm gonna bring a little portable player out onto Trout Lake next January so we can listen to Rachmaninov and Prokofiev while we reel in the mighty lake trout.

That's fine and dandy, and I have nothing against those subjects, but the public tax dollars should not be used to support them. No way, no how, and there is zero chance of convincing me otherwise. (big surprise! )

Yes, they should. Way. How. And I'm not trying to convince you, Dan. Just throwing my opinion into the fray. It's no more or less important an opinion than anyone else's.

Obviously you completely ignored how the money is broken down and distributed?

Unlike you and the other die-hard right leaners on this site, that love our country so much, yet have absolutely no trust in our countries government, I believe they will do right with this fund, they HAVE too! If not, well I guess we all will have learned a valuable lesson and the final straw will then have broke the camels back!

You didn't learn that lesson with the lottery? How's that working for us? How about the hundreds of thousands of our money that was mispent? Didn't learn there? Sorry, I don't need several lessons when it comes to loosing money. If I give you a hundy cause you have no food in your fridge and you take the family to Red Lobster instead of getting groceries, don't think I'm helping you out again.

There are so many things wrong with that I don't even know where to start.

Yea man, I'm in touch with the art side. I think we have a lot in common. I believe everyone on this site has a ton in common. I don't let politics get in the way of that. I fish with loos15 all the time. Went out with Croixflats on Friday. I don't usually agree with a lot of what these guys post about politics, but you know what? We get out in the boat and have a blast. We'll get together and do some fishing sometime Steve, I might bicker with ya, but nothings ever meant personal.

You don't need to start, Dan. You've already started and finished a number of times on this thread. If it hasn't changed my mind by now, it's not going to.

Exactly!

It was a joke.

Lottery

In 1988, voters approved two constitutional amendments, which created the Environmental and Natural Resources Trust Fund and established the Minnesota Lottery. Forty percent of net state lottery proceeds are deposited to the Trust Fund corpus, (approximately $35 million annually). It is hoped the Fund will reach $1 billion by 2025; the corpus now totals nearly $300 million. Trust Fund appropriations are intended for projects with long-term benefits, i.e. land acquisitions, biodiversity surveys, and innovative community-based conservation projects.


Sales Tax

In 2000, conservation advocates were successful in redirecting a sales tax on lottery tickets “lottery-in-lieu” toward wildlife, state/metro parks and zoo projects for a total of $44 million per biennium. The sales tax on lottery tickets was enacted in the early 1990’s to compensate for state budget shortfalls, and had the effect of reducing deposits to the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund. The new “Heritage Fund” is appropriated annually, usually one-time projects, by the legislature based on DNR recommendations.


Cigarette Taxes

A 2-cent/pack-cigarette tax goes toward the “Minnesota Future Resources Fund.” This yields $13-16 million biennium and is appropriated at the same time as Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund earnings. Money is used only to “accelerate” outdoor recreation programs, including land acquisition, but primarily parks and trails development.

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$130 Million every biennium isn't enough? Where is this money currently being used? Maybe they need an oversight committee to watch over these funds first and then go back jacking up the tax rate later.

Unfortunately this isn't a joke.