Other opinion: State fees

A new birth defect research program that will help the Minnesota Department of Health track such defects so the department can establish targeted prevention services? It's hard to argue with that. How about a program that may help Minnesota couples contemplating divorce to find a way to reconcile? If it works, it, too, would be worthwhile.

What is troublesome about such programs, however, is how the state of Minnesota decided to fund these two new programs established this year by the Legislature and signed into law by the governor. The programs will be funded by hikes in fees charged for birth certificates and marriage licenses - a hike that almost passed under the tax radar.

Starting July 1, the fees for marriage licenses increased from $110 to $115 to fund the Minnesota Couples on the Brink program - the divorce prevention program.

On that same day, the fees for birth certificates will jump a whopping 63 percent - from $16 to $26 - all to fund the program that records and studies birth defects.

No doubt these programs have merit. Then again, a lot of things that Minnesotans would like to see in our state have merit. The problem with such programs is how to fund them. And given the financial mess in which the state finds itself, there's no extra cash lying around to pay for the programs.

So the state, once again, has decided to let everyday Minnesotans pay the bill. But need we remind lawmakers that everyday Minnesotans are feeling the budgetary crunch of the current economic slowdown every bit as much as lawmakers are. If they don't have the money up there in St. Paul to pay for the programs, what makes them think that folks throughout the state have the money for it?

Face it: This is just another tax increase disguising itself as a fee hike. Let's hope this sort of back door tax hike is not a sign of things to come.