Indexing Cigarette Taxes is Smart Public Policy

The per pack cigarette tax in Minnesota is indexed (or adjusted annually) based on the change in the average cigarette retail price. As a result of indexing, the tax on a pack of cigarettes has risen from $2.83 in 2014 to $3.00 per pack in 2016 and will likely...

A Fresh Take on Business Taxes

Conservatives and many business groups contend that Minnesota business taxes are high relative to other states. Apart from the dubious merit of some of these claims,* they generally do not take into account the level of economic activity that provides the base from...

The High Cost of Fully Exempting Social Security Benefits

Fully exempting Social Security from the state income tax will result in a rapidly escalating state revenue loss and will have consequences that violate several principles of good tax policy. These and other aspects of plans to exempt all Social Security benefits were...

Impact of State Aid on 2016 Property Taxes

Total property taxes in Minnesota increased by 4.7 percent from 2015 to 2016, exceeding the combined rate of inflation and population growth, with county property taxes increasing by 3.4 percent, city property taxes increasing by 4.5 percent, and school property taxes...

New MDOR Data Show No Über-Rich Tax Flight

New data from the Minnesota Department of Revenue (MDOR) shows a significant increase in the number of very high-income taxpayers and the income taxes paid by them in the year following enactment of a new “top tier” income tax rate targeted at households with taxable...