A non-partisan think tank has found that Vice Presidential candidate and current Minnesota Governor Tim Walz ranks dead last in a critical ranking amongst U.S. governors.
A ranking that should give voters great pause come Election Day.
According to the Fiscal Policy Report Card on American’s Governors for 2024, a biennial report compiled by The Cato Institute, Walz ranks dead last in overall fiscal responsibility.
#TimWalz ranks dead last among governors for fiscal restraint in new study | Fox Business
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ranks lowest even among other governors with failing grades for fiscal responsibility, according to a new study https://t.co/Ot4nBVWEbj
— vannschaffner (@vannschaffner) October 16, 2024
The report card scored every state’s leader according to how much they raised or lowered taxes, and whether they slashed spending or ramped it up.
The report game Walz a score of 19, earning an “F” grade along with five other Democrats.
The other governors with the worst tax-and-spend records included Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers who received a failing grade for his score of 34, followed by Delaware Gov. John Carney, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and Maine Gov. Janet Mills, all of whom received scores of 31. Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York scored a 29, which was the second-lowest behind Walz.
The report, authored by the Cato Institute’s Kilts Family Chair in Fiscal Studies Chris Edwards, states that Walz “has overseen substantial spending increases and pushed many tax hikes,” pointing out that “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.”
“Walz has repeatedly pushed for tax hikes on high earners, the middle class, and businesses,” Edwards told FOX Business. “Since, like many states, Minnesota has had budget surpluses, Walz’s tax-hike zeal has seemed more like an effort to punish taxpayers than to fill any real need for more revenues.”
“Minnesota is a cold, northern, and high-tax state that is steadily losing individuals and businesses to warmer and lower-tax states,” Edwards added. “Unfortunately, Walz has exacerbated the problem with his big tax hikes.”
Walz’s office did not respond to the latest rankings.
As for the best governors when it comes to fiscal responsibility, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds topped the list for the second time in a row with a high score of 81, making her one of six governors to earn an “A” grade in the study.
The report hailed Reynolds’ track record as “a lean budgeter and dedicated tax reformer since entering office in 2017.”
Others that topped the list included Gov. Jim Pillen of Nebraska, Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia, and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas.