Enjoy Your Penny While You Can, Homer Simpson

by | Feb 1, 2018

A recent blog post from the Center for the American Experiment (CAE)—Minnesota’s right wing think tank—features an overjoyed Homer Simpson. Homer apparently celebrates the “bonuses and pay hikes” that Minnesota workers are supposedly receiving through recent federal...

Minnesota Insurance Enrollment Broke State Record

by | Jan 26, 2018

More Minnesotans can claim health insurance than ever before. Unlike many of its neighbors, the state has leaned into the Affordable Care Act, and reaped rewards—only 4% of Minnesotans lack insurance for 2018. MNSure recently announced that the 2017 open enrollment...

Long Live the Death Tax!

by | Jan 25, 2018

Conservatives hate the estate tax, which falls primarily on a tiny sliver of the very wealthiest households. However, criticisms of the estate tax do not hold up well under close scrutiny. We examined the criticism that the estate tax constitutes “double taxation” in...

Is the Estate Tax Really “Double Taxation?”

by | Jan 20, 2018

Estate taxes reduce wealth inequality by taxing a portion of huge intergenerational wealth transfers, as noted in the previous installment in this series. Nonetheless, conservatives consistently call for reductions to or elimination of this tax, partly on the grounds...

Estate Taxes in the Age of Inequality

by | Jan 18, 2018

Income and wealth inequality has accelerated in recent decades; at the same time, reliance on the progressive estate tax as a state revenue source has waned. Certainly, the decline of the estate tax is not the only—or even a primary—cause for the increase in...

Minnesota’s Community Health Centers Face a Funding Crisis

by | Jan 16, 2018

The most vulnerable Minnesotans faced a new challenge October 1st. When the previous budget expired, Congress failed to provide stable funding for community health centers (CHCs) that serve these populations. Though Congress passed a 90-day extension of funding as a...

Minnesota Kids Above Average, But Not as Much as They Used to Be

by | Jan 11, 2018

Ten years ago, Minnesota failed to live up to its reputation for having a well-funded public school system relative to other states, as per pupil public school spending in the Gopher State dropped below the national average. While recent increases in school funding...

Minnesota Revenue & Spending Levels Typical of Other States

by | Jan 5, 2018

While Minnesota ranks fairly high among states in terms of per capita own-source revenue, total revenue, and total spending, these per capita measures are not a reliable way to gauge the relative size of government among states. As noted in the preceding article,...