Moody’s Investors Service is changing the way it assesses local government pension liabilities "to reflect the rating agency’s view that pension obligations are a significant source of credit pressure for governments and warrant a more conservative view of the potential size of the obligations." The new ratings rules could lead to downgrades for some cities, counties, and school districts. Moody’s …
Archives for April 2013
Senate debates tax bill
The Minnesota Senate will likely pass their tax bill today, which includes $1.8 billion in tax increases and derives the bulk of new revenue from raising the state’s top personal income tax rate by 20 percent and imposing a 94-cent per pack cigarette tax hike. Among the bill’s features: Increases the current top personal income tax rate by 20 percent (from 7.85 percent to 9.4 percent), with …
Analysis of Governor Dayton’s Tax Plan
Following tough bipartisan criticism of his original biennial budget proposal, Gov. Mark Dayton introduced an FY 2014-15 budget totaling $37.94 billion in spending. The bottom line of the most recent Dayton budget proposal amounts to a $1.84 billion net tax increase. Essentially, Gov. Dayton has set aside most of his “tax reform” proposals, and instead is relying on two revenue sources: a new …