Archive for October 2018
Caring in Central Minnesota
Minnesota is getting older every day.1 The aging of our population is increasing demand for home health and personal care workers. We also continue to have population growth through both immigration and natural growth. To fill the needs of our changing population we need people to care for the very young, the very old, and…
Read MoreGas Tax Buys One-Third Less Today Than in 2000
The single largest source of funding for Minnesota’s transportation system comes from the state gas tax. However, the purchasing power of that tax has dropped by over one-third over the course of the century, leaving funding for state roads and bridges in a precarious fiscal situation. While the majority of states have increased their gas…
Read MoreClaims that Raising the Minimum Wage to $15 in St. Paul Would Harm Workers Ignore the Facts
Note: the following is a letter co-signed with colleagues at the National Employment Law Project (NELP) and submitted to Mayor Melvin Carter and St. Paul City Council Members. * * * * * * * October 30, 2018 Dear Mayor Carter and Council Members, In September, the nonpartisan Citizens League’s Saint Paul Minimum Wage Study Committee released…
Read MoreState Aids: The Shrinking Slice of the City Revenue Pie
City property taxes have increased significantly in recent decades. Even after adjusting for inflation and population growth, the property taxes collected by Minnesota cities have increased by 48% from 1990 to 2018. However, real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) per capita city revenues are down over the same period. The rapid growth in property taxes and the decline…
Read MoreGovernment Growth in Context
Shocking claims of growth in government abound. However, viewed in context of the economic, demographic, and societal changes that have occurred over the last fifty years, the growth in government is far less astounding than the sound-bite statistics indicate. For example, the charge of 5,000% growth in state government is based on the change in…
Read MoreImpact of Legislative Decisions on School Funding
State aid to Minnesota school districts—properly adjusted for inflation—has fluctuated significantly over the last fifteen years, but the overall trend has been downward, as documented in a recent North Star report. Of course, long-term trends are not exclusively the result of changes enacted by state policymakers.* Using information compiled during the 2017 special legislative session,…
Read MoreMinnesota’s Shared Health
Minnesotans value a high quality of life. It is part of the Minnesota story and one of our competitive advantages. This includes having healthy people in healthy communities. Historically, policy makers have recognized the importance of health care access by investing in a range of systems and resources that ensure Minnesotans have access to affordable…
Read MoreMisplaced Faith in Tax Cuts
Whatever the problem, a tax cut will fix it. And under no circumstances ever increase taxes. So goes the conventional conservative mantra. New research from two Oklahoma State University economists (Rickman and Wang, 2018) finds that reality is far more nuanced than this rigid perspective suggests. Tax cuts can promote economic growth—or they can harm…
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