July 1 has come and gone, meaning the vast majority of tax hikes have officially gone into effect throughout Minnesota. So now’s a good time to revisit Governor Dayton’s promises about taxing the rich, and only the rich. Here’s a sampling of the “rich” people who are paying more under the Dayton tax regime:
* Smokers will now pay close to $10 per pack for some brands, thanks to Governor Dayton’s $1.60 cigarette tax hike
* Anyone who purchases an e-book, ringtone, song, or movie online, will now pay state sales tax
* Licensed drivers will now pay a $3 fee on driver’s licenses
* The deceased will now have part of their estate retroactively taxed
* New parents will pay an additional $10 for the state’s newborn screening program
But according to a new tax incidence analysis from Dayton’s own Department of Revenue, the “millionaires” that Governor Dayton and the legislature really stuck it to are the ones who make $10,937 per year… or less. That’s right, despite all the promises about “taxing the rich” and all of the class warfare rhetoric, the taxes that took effect this week fall disproportionately upon the poorest Minnesotans. The poorest 10 percent of Minnesotans will see their effective tax rate increase from 29.9 percent to 31.5 percent under the Dayton tax regime, by far the largest increase of any income group.
Governor Dayton and liberal legislators promised that their $2 billion dollar tax hike would only “tax the rich”. They lied.
