More Required to Stabilize ACA Individual Market

by | Aug 22, 2017

At the beginning of August, Minnesota health insurance companies released their expected changes in premium costs. The proposed average changes were separated into two major groups: changes with reinsurance and changes without reinsurance. As a quick reminder,...

Minnesota Business Property Taxes Per Capita, Employee

by | Aug 22, 2017

Minnesota business property taxes really aren’t that high, based on analysis of information from the annual business tax report prepared by Ernst & Young (EY). As described in the preceding article in this series, Minnesota’s business effective property tax rate...

Minnesota Business Property Taxes Below Average

by | Aug 14, 2017

A common mantra among conservatives is that Minnesota business property taxes are high relative to other states—a view promulgated by Minnesota’s business lobby and interest groups. Analysis of data from impartial sources, however, suggests that the opposite might be...

Minnesota’s Impending Crisis: Dangerous New Opioids

by | Aug 9, 2017

Over the last few years, Minnesota policymakers and medical providers ramped up the pressure to slow down the rate of overdoses and deaths caused by opioids. When you compare Minnesota to other states in the Upper Midwest, it is fairly similar in age-adjusted opioid...

A Closer Look at Badger Boasts

by | Aug 9, 2017

Lofty claims about the performance of the Wisconsin economy occasionally drift across the Saint Croix River, attempting to highlight the success of conservative fiscal and anti-union policies in the Badger State. These claims, however, are woefully incomplete, and at...

Minnesota’s Shrinking Cigarette Tax

by | Aug 8, 2017

The price of most items that consumers purchase increases over time due to inflation. This year, however, the impact of inflation was removed as it applies to the tax on one of the most deadly over-the-counter products that Minnesotans can buy: cigarettes. The repeal...

Tax Regressivity in Minnesota vs. Other States

by | Aug 1, 2017

Minnesota policymakers of all political persuasions have touted the importance of reducing tax regressivity—in other words, reducing the extent to which taxes as a percent of income are borne disproportionately by low- and middle-income households. Thus, it should...

Climate Change Will Wreak Havoc on Our Summers and Our Health

by | Aug 1, 2017

Many people don’t connect the growing concern of a warmer climate and carbon emissions to the everyday impact on our lives. Many think of climate change as a problem that must be addressed, but not the imminent consequences. A recent article published in the New...

Minnesota’s Income Tax: Not the Most Progressive

by | Jul 26, 2017

Like many states, Minnesota offsets the regressivity of sales and property taxes through a progressive income tax. Minnesota’s income tax became more progressive in 2013 with the addition of a fourth income tax bracket for high-income households. Even after enactment...

Job Vacancy Wages Don’t Meet Basic Needs

by | Jul 24, 2017

The wages offered for most job vacancies in Minnesota are not sufficient to meet the basic needs of a typical family, according to the 2017 Minnesota Cost of Living Study prepared by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The preceding...