Lindell releases plan to eliminate income tax with massive cuts to education, healthcare spending

Pillow mogul and 2020 election conspiracy buff Mike Lindell, whose campaign for governor was recently endorsed by President Donald Trump, released a 72-page plan Thursday to eliminate the state income tax, which would necessitate cutting the state general fund budget in half.

Lindell is running in the Republican primary against Army veteran and retired healthcare executive Kendall Qualls, who was endorsed at the state Republican convention, and House Speaker Lisa Demuth. The primary is Aug. 11 and voting has already begun.

In some areas, Lindell’s plan is specific, like cutting education spending by $4.9 billion, or roughly 19%; healthcare by $11 billion; and public assistance programs by $3.6 billion.

Other details are less clear. Lindell would try to compensate for all the cuts with $16.5 billion from something he calls the “Lindell Direct Assistance Program” — his own charitable model — with the claims that “services can be delivered with private sector sponsorship for 40% less than government assistance.”

The plan also relies on “dynamic scoring,” which is a favorite tool of tax cutters, claiming economic growth from tax cuts would bring in revenue above conventional fiscal expectations, in this case $3.9 billion.

Lindell asserts the cuts would bring Minnesota in line with national norms and allow the state to become the 10th in the nation without an income tax, joining South Dakota, Texas, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Nevada, Washington, Alaska, Tennessee and Florida.

The plan would be a vast departure from Minnesota’s history of higher taxes paying for higher quality schools, healthcare, social services, transportation, parks and arts and culture.

The Lindell plan argues that the extra spending hasn’t yielded better results, specifically citing Mississippi’s recent success achieving early literacy despite vastly lower spending than Minnesota.

Should Lindell win the primary next week, the plan is sure to come under withering attack from presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Amy Klobuchar, as well as educators, nurses, doctors, police and firefighters and the unions that represent them, who would argue that the cuts would destroy Minnesota’s quality of life.