Minnesotans bordering Wisconsin and North Dakota warn about the impact of DFL’s proposed sales tax hike
The DFL is proposing yet another tax hike.
HF 3566 would, MPR News reports:
…update Minnesota’s current electronics waste law, which was passed back in 2007 — the year the first iPhone was released — and focuses mainly on televisions and computers.
The bill would cover 100 percent of electronic waste, and make recycling electronics free for all Minnesotans. To fund the program, it would add a 3.2 percent retail fee on most electronic items when they are sold. Cell phones would have a flat 90-cent fee.
As we have noted before, the burden of these sales tax hikes will fall hardest on retailers on Minnesota’s borders. KVRR reports that:
…the difference between border states will be significant. For example, Fargo has a 7.5% sales tax, and with the new bill, that would increase Moorhead to 11.08%. That can make business tricky in the Fargo-Moorhead metro area, and the Chamber of Commerce is paying attention closely to the bill because they operate in both states.
“When you go and you are purchasing that lamp, that cell phone, that Bluetooth speaker, whatever it might be, those purchases will all have this 3.2% sales tax on top of what you are already paying on the Minnesota side of the river. Which is very concerning and like I said it impacts both businesses as well as consumers.” said Katherine Grindberg, the executive vice president for the Fargo-West Fargo-Moorhead Chamber of Commerce.
From the opposite corner of the state, the Winona Post carries this warning from Christie Ransom, president of the Winona Area Chamber of Commerce, and Bruce Nustad, president of the Minnesota Retailers Association:
A proposed sales tax increase would bring Winona’s sales tax rate to 10.58% on some purchases (like vacuums, lamps, Bluetooth speakers, and more), a stark contrast to the 5.5% rate in La Crosse. This “Wrong Border Battle” would not only burden our families with increased costs but also drive shoppers across the river, harming our small retailers.
Last session, the DFL not only blew through a budget surplus of $18 billion but imposed $10 billion of new taxes on top of that. Even so, their appetite for your money does not appear to have been slaked just yet.