by lftcrtv | Apr 25, 2017
Earlier this year, conservatives attempted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and replace it with the American Health Care Act (AHCA), otherwise known as Trumpcare. These efforts were stymied by the rivaling factions within the Republican party, but had the bill...
by lftcrtv | Apr 24, 2017
For the last four and a half decades, the city Local Government Aid (LGA) program has helped cities fund essential services and control property tax levels, but in real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) dollars per capita, city LGA is currently less than half of what it was...
by lftcrtv | Apr 20, 2017
A movement is again afoot in Minnesota to allow anti-tax voters to create new hurdles to local levy increases. Under the moniker of “taxpayer empowerment,” this initiative would allow voters as few as ten percent of the number voting in the last general election to...
by lftcrtv | Apr 18, 2017
Most of the assistance that Minnesota school districts receive from the state comes in the form of basic general education formula revenue. This revenue establishes a base level of funding for all districts, from which—in theory—basic school operating expenses can be...
by lftcrtv | Apr 17, 2017
In order to incentivize families to save for their children’s college education, Minnesota and other states are exploring income tax credits and deductions for 529 plans. Named after section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code, these investment vehicles were designed to...
by lftcrtv | 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,...
by lftcrtv | Mar 28, 2017
In the February 2017 forecast, Minnesota Management & Budget and the State Council of Economic Advisors warned of potential downside risk to the state budget resulting from changes in federal policy. Earlier this month, one of these threats came into sharper...
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