Minnesota Free Market Institute

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting today that University of Minnesota President Robert Bruinincks, while acknowledging that the state needs to solve significant transportation problems, says roads and bridges shouldn’t be paid for at the expense of investments in higher education. Legislators, he says, should consider an increase in either the gas tax or the sales tax. "Higher education is typically 35 percent of the bonding recommendation and the number now is 23 percent," Bruininks said. "That's a very significant gap on almost $1 billion."

“President Bruinincks’ comments are misguided for two reasons,” notes the Minnesota Free Market Institute’s Craig Westover. “First, he makes the assumption that higher education is entitled to some specified percentage of the bonding recommendation. The state’s higher education system is a legitimate recipient of bonding recommendations, but its requests should be based on justified need and judged in context of other legitimate state needs. Second, Bruinincks makes his comments in the context of ‘higher education versus roads and bridges.' In fact, the real issue is legitimate infrastructure needs in both transportation and higher education verses projects that have a limited local impact and are put into the bonding bill for political rather than practical reasons.”

For more information see:

The Case for Using General Obligation Bonds for State Highway Projects

Pet projects should compete head to head with roads, bridges