The good news? Minnesota is projected to have a nearly $2 billion dollar budget surplus in 2016.
The bad news? You and I created that surplus after a majority in the legislature and the governor in 2013 voted to permanently raise taxes by $2 billion. It remains the largest tax increase in state history.
But that’s not the worst news! Not only are our state tax coffers overflowing with additional taxes forcibly collected from you and me but some elected officials aren’t stopping there – they are already planning on raising more taxes to further grow the size and scope of Minnesota state and local government.
What taxes are already on the table in 2016? Let’s start with business and property taxes:
- Edina and Brainerd taxpayers will see an estimated 7% increase in their property tax bill next year;
- Rochester property owners will pay an additional 8%; and,
- 43% of Minnesota residents will pay at least 5 – 10% more in property taxes in 2016.
Last year, Governor Dayton and his liberal allies in the legislature proposed a $7 billion hike in motor vehicle taxes including a hidden tax on the wholesale price of fuel. While Governor Dayton has recently backed away from that proposal, his allies in the legislature continue the effort. Experts predicted that this gas tax hike would have cost the average Minnesota household an extra $900 per year in new taxes.
But that’s not all! When the liberals in St. Paul raised all sorts of taxes in 2013, it wasn’t just a “one time only” tax increase. No, instead they put an “annual adjustment factor” into the law that raises some of the most regressive taxes in the state automatically. That tricky maneuver puts those excise taxes on “autopilot” meaning that consumers pay more and more, allowing state government to grow bigger and bigger while politicians don’t have to be accountable for raising those taxes year after year.
And finally, we learned this year from the well-respected Tax Foundation that Minnesotans now have the dubious distinction of having the 4th highest income tax rate in the nation!
The situation has become so dire that one fellow Minnesotan told me recently that, “I can’t afford to die in Minnesota – that’s why I moved my permanent residence to Florida.” We see families ripped apart every fall as job creators seek a more hospitable tax climate for six months and one day every year.
Where does it all stop? In 2016.
Next year, the Freedom Foundation will release our updated and timely taxpayer migration report. This report will be released in time for legislators to consider who is leaving the state, where they are moving to and how much income Minnesota loses because taxpayers continue to seek relief from the high income and business tax burdens in this state. This will be the first report released after the 2013 record-setting tax hikes occurred and thousands more Minnesotans fled the state for locales with smaller and less expensive state and local governments.
How can you help? Please consider a one-time tax-deductible gift of membership to the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota. Your $100 end-of-the-year donation will help us market the 2016 tax migration study so that every Minnesotan knows the result of this research and what it means to job creation in our great state.
We fight battles like this every day on your behalf. Now it’s time to lower taxes on every Minnesotan and we need your help to get the job done. With your support, you can be sure that the Freedom Foundation will fight every day in 2016 to get your money back and to shrink the size of state government. It’s what we do and we’re humbled that many of our faithful readers already support our work. But make no mistake — we fight against some very well-funded special interests who are already working behind the scenes in St. Paul to raise more money to fund even bigger government.
Please consider a gift to the Freedom Foundation by clicking HERE and stand with us as we fight to get Minnesota once again out of the “top 10 taxed states” in the nation.
