Red Rock On Air

Gov. Mark Dayton said in his State of the State speech that past state income tax cuts are partly to blame for chronic budget problems in Minnesota and that political leaders cannot afford to keep delaying difficult tax and spending decisions.

Dayton delivered the annual speech Wednesday night in the state House chamber.

He said that income tax cuts in the late ’90s were followed by a decade where Minnesota’s economy fared worse than the nation as a whole and most other states.

The speech was largely a pitch for Dayton’s proposal to hike income taxes on the wealthy and expand the state sales tax to more purchases.

But Dayton also endorsed same-sex marriage, an issue lawmakers might tackle later this session.