So much for the idea of raising taxes only on the wealthy. The Senate DFL is proposing tax increases on the middle class as well. The tax increases would hit single taxpayers earning $80,000 a year or more, and couples earning $140,000 or more.

The Senate plan, instead of creating a new bracket for the wealthiest, as Gov. Mark Dayton proposed, would simply raise the top bracket from 7.85 percent to 9.4 percent.

The plan would affect about 177,000 taxpayers, with an average of $2,435 per return.

This is not the wealthiest two percent envisioned by Gov. Mark Dayton. This is a plan that reaches farther down into the pockets of the upper middle class.

There’s no sign of budget restraint here. The DFL is proposing more spending – for things like education, care for the elderly and so on, to be sure – but they are ignoring the question of how much we can afford.

Republicans in the past refused to raise taxes and slashed spending. Democrats now are refusing to cut spending and are hiking taxes to cover it. What ever happened to the idea of a balanced approach to budgeting?