By Dave Thompson
Bismarck, ND – Reduce taxes...make key one-time investments...and save the rest.
Those were some of the key recommendations from a group called "Americans for Prosperity." The group held a series of meetings around the state, asking people what they think should be done with a more than $500-million state surplus.
"People were real clear -- if we are generating excess revenues, mayve some of those ought to come back to the people," said Former Gov. Ed Schafer, who co-chaired the effort. "They were also clear that tax relief not come back in terms of checks, but should result in rate cuts."
Schafer says one of the ideas is to permanently reduce North Dakota's income tax rates -- or get rid of the state corporate income tax. Another is to give one of North Dakota's smaller colleges a big money incentive to go into another business.
"Our higher education system is very expensive," Schafer said. "If you look at the fact that we're already near the top in per capita spending on higher-ed, we're never going to be able to put the money in that our system demands."
Schafer says the ideas have been presented to Governor Hoeven and state lawmakers.