(KMHL) MARSHALL — Republican Gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen was in Southwest Minnesota yesterday. One of his stops was at Action Manufacturing in Marshall. Jensen got a tour of the facility that creates the Action Chair, an all-terrain vehicle for wheelchair bound persons. Scott Jensen took questions from the media and the discussion started off with taxes. Jensen believes in phasing out the state income tax over a span of 4 to 8 years, using the surplus to offset the loss of revenue, and setting a cap on spending when needed. Income tax makes up a large portion of the state’s revenue. Jensen was asked if a sales tax increase is still on the table. “I don’t think we’re advocating at all for a sales tax increase. I think you could ask what do we tax down and what don’t we tax. I think that that’s changed a little bit.” Jensen said.
A big part of Jensen’s campaign has been reducing crime and making the twin cities safer again. He says even if his plan is implemented, there isn’t a magic bullet to resolve the issue. Jensen said, “When you see the Minnesota Twins start to draw sellout crowds again, that would be a marker. But, if you look at what happened to the Twins attendance this year, in June and July, we had some beautiful Saturdays. The Twins were in first place. We couldn’t get 20,000 people in the stands. That’s a clear marker.”
Jensen finished his press conference discussing mining in the northern part of the state. He wants to open up the state for mining, reduce regulations, and bring in jobs to take advantage of the nickel reserves in the state.
Scott Jensen finished his campaign stop by giving a speech to around 100 people in the front lobby of Action Manufacturing. He discussed Tim Walz’s failure to react to the George Floyd protests, COVID lockdowns, taxes, education, and mining.
(Complete Press Conference Audio)
