School Vouchers are the Wrong Choice

by | Mar 13, 2017

Many in the conservative movement advocate for “school choice”: aka educational reform in the way of school vouchers, but there are waves and waves of research that suggest private school vouchers harm students who receive them. But first: What are school vouchers?...

State Business Property Tax: Flat Levy, Declining Rates

by | Mar 7, 2017

As a whole, the property tax changes enacted in 2001—including the state business property tax—have worked out well for Minnesota businesses, as noted in part 1 of this series. In addition, the cost of eliminating or drastically reducing the state business property...

Are Large Cuts to the State Business Levy Affordable?

by | Mar 3, 2017

The series of tax changes enacted in 2001—which included the creation of a general state business property tax—have worked out well for businesses. The previous article in this series showed that if the changes that most directly pertain to businesses had never been...

February Forecast Surplus Could Be Illusory

by | Feb 28, 2017

The projected budget surplus for the upcoming FY 2018-19 biennium increased by $250 million to $1.65 billion, based on Minnesota Management & Budget’s (MMB) February forecast, released today. The surplus for FY 2020-21 biennium—the start of which is still 28...

When Winning Big Isn’t Enough

by | Feb 24, 2017

In 2001, business lobbyists worked overtime not only to reduce business property taxes, but also to change to whom businesses pay those property taxes. They argued that local governments were too dependent on business tax base and not enough on homestead tax base....