Federal Taxes in the MTIS: In or Out?

by | Apr 6, 2017

The Minnesota Tax Incidence Study (MTIS) looks at the impact of state and local taxes by income group, in an attempt ascertain who is paying Minnesota taxes. Since it was first published by the Minnesota Department of Revenue (MDOR) in 1991, the MTIS has been one of...

Shocking Implications of Private School Tax Credits

by | Apr 3, 2017

Conservatives continue to push vouchers and private school tax credits, despite new research (summarized in a recent North Star article) indicating that this approach is counter-productive to improving student achievement. Minnesota is among the states considering...

Sharp Jump in Homeowner Property Taxes

by | Mar 29, 2017

Property taxes paid as a percent of income have declined for the typical Minnesota homeowner since 2007, according to the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence (MCFE), formerly the Minnesota Taxpayers Association. As noted in the previous article in this series,...

Homeowner Tax Rates Aren’t Necessarily Falling

by | Mar 23, 2017

Local elected officials have argued that property tax increases—including homestead tax increases—combined with declining real per capita local government revenue have fueled the need for an increase in state property tax aids and credits. But not so fast, says the...

“Giving Back” What You Don’t Have

by | Mar 20, 2017

The tax cut plan released by Senate conservatives last week is still short on details, but here is some of what we do know: it will cut taxes by $900 million, presumably over the course of the upcoming FY 2018-19 biennium. The key elements of the proposal include a...

Aids & Credits Down, Property Taxes Up

by | Mar 16, 2017

Homeowners’ property tax effort is feeble and property tax aids and credits provided by the state of Minnesota are adequate—if not robust—according to a recent article from the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence (MCFE), formerly the Minnesota Taxpayers...