Minnesota’s government officials must feel like the people who get a bank statement with a few more zeroes than they were expecting. They should be asking, “Is this a mistake? How did this happen?”

On Tuesday the Minnesota Management and Budget office projected the state will have a $7.7 billion surplus over the next biennium. After pulling their eyeballs back in, officials should be asking what is the best way to get this extra money back to the people they took it from.

With that extra cash, legislators will naturally want to use it. There are many good things that could and should be done with it, like supporting child care, properly funding education, giving much needed raises to nursing home and personal care attendants and supporting necessary water treatment facilities and other infrastructure, but legislators should proceed cautiously, spending where necessary and not expecting this windfall to permanently reappear every year.

With this kind of surplus, Minnesota has obviously been taking more than it needs from the taxpayers. It is a good time for the state to work on tax reform, adjusting rates to make sure adequate revenue is coming in, but leaving more with the people who earned it in the first place.

This surplus will make for an interesting legislative budgeting session.