By Derek Brigham

The shutdown of Minnesota Government sucked the oxygen out of the political and public policy debate over the last couple of weeks.  An interesting piece in the Star Tribune that may not have been noticed tells the story about exactly how onerous taxes can be on some of our most innovative Minnesota job creators.  More importantly, the piece discussed what some of our elected officials, like Congressman Paulsen, are doing to tear down arbitrary and job killing taxes on MN business.

Boston Scientific CEO penned this piece as Minnesota’s doors were shutting.

There has been massive public outcry over the Federal Healthcare bill for a whole host of reasons.  One of those reasons which is gaining attention here in Minnesota and across the country is because of a completely arbitrary 2.3% tax placed on medical device manufacturers.  The level of innovation in private industry for healthcare solutions has grown exponentially.  Minnesota is a shining example of life saving innovation, research and development around “Medical Alley.”  When an industry is flourishing, saving lives and creating jobs, why on earth would anyone think it makes sense to hold it back with a new tax?

Thankfully, Congressman Paulsen has taken this on as a high priority issue.  Real “healthcare reform” requires the innovation of great Minnesota companies like Boston Scientific, Medtronic and others.  This is such a blatant example of our government interfering with something that works, and harming the ability of the private sector to create and innovate.  And in this case, it has the potential to hurt real people who depend on these life-saving products.  It is good to have leaders like Congressman Paulsen on issues like this.