In 2020, Minnesota ranked 5th highest in state tax collections per person

With the legislative session underway, the question of what to do with Minnesota’s historic $9.3 billion surpluses is still up in the air. Gov. Tim Walz has proposed a plan that uses the majority of the surplus for more government spending.

At American Experiment, we have held the view that the budget is best used for permanent tax cuts. The reason for this is that Minnesota is one of the most highly taxed states in the nation. And this huge surplus is a testament to that.

But to make the point again about how just how high taxes in Minnesota are, we take a look at tax collection data from the Tax Foundation. More specifically, this concerns tax collections per person, which is a huge indicator of the overall tax burden.

According to the data, the state of Minnesota collected nearly $4,700 in tax revenue per person in 2020. This is the 5th highest rate in the country and nearly $1500 more than the national average.

With such high taxes, using the historic surplus for permanent tax cuts should be a no-brainer.