Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) received the lowest rating in the Cato Institute’s biennial report card on governors’s handling of spending and taxes.
Walz, who is Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate this election, has led the North Star state since 2019. The Cato Institute is a libertarian group that generally prefers less government intervention in the private sector, lighter regulatory burdens, and lower taxes. Its fiscal report card released Tuesday looked at the policies of all 50 governors from 2022 to now in order to come up with its rankings.
In this iteration of the report card, Walz received a score of 19 out of 100 (the lowest in the country) and a corresponding “F” grade from the Cato Institute. The next-lowest was Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY), who received a score of 29.
“He has overseen substantial spending increases and pushed many tax hikes,” the report said. “Minnesota’s general fund budget increased from $51.9 billion in the 2022–2023 biennium to $70.5 billion in the 2024–2025 biennium, a 36 percent increase.”
The report then listed several other tax and spending provisions that it found were not fiscally responsible and were implemented under Walz. It warned that the course of policy could encourage out-migration from Minnesota.
“That state will likely continue losing business investment and high earners to warmer and lower-tax states until it adopts a leaner government and reduced tax rates,” the report said.
For instance, the institute cited one piece of legislation that raised taxes and fees on vehicles and transportation, including indexing the gas tax for inflation and raising vehicle registration taxes. Walz also greenlit raising taxes on wages to pay for a new mandatory paid family leave program.
Meanwhile, six governors, all Republicans, earned “A” ratings from the Cato Institute. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) clocked in at No. 1 with a score of 81, followed by Gov. Jim Pillen (R-NE), Gov. Jim Justice (R-WV), Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR), Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD), and Gov. Greg Gianforte (R-MT).
The report comes as Walz’s tenure as governor and Harris’s time as vice president and senator are under the microscope leading up to the election. The report is especially pertinent given the federal government’s precarious fiscal footing, which has featured rising national debt and deficits.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated last week that the federal budget deficit for fiscal 2024 rose to $1.8 trillion, the highest in three years.
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The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget also released new projections last week that found the economic plans of Harris and her opponent, former President Donald Trump, would increase the national debt.
The CRFB found that Harris’s plan would be expected to raise the debt by about $3.5 trillion over the next decade, while, under the group’s central estimate, Trump’s plan would add $7.5 trillion to the national debt. Both candidates pushed back on the estimates when contacted by the Washington Examiner.