2023 was a big year for welfare expansion in Minnesota. Despite Health and Human Services (HH) already making up 30 percent of state spending, lawmakers dedicated over $6 billion in…
Two weeks ago I wrote about a proposal from some DFL legislators in St. Paul to hike Minnesota’s state sales tax, with the revenue dedicated to housing programs. Now, the…
Unlike the 2023 legislative session, lawmakers have very little room for extra spending this year. After blowing Minnesota’s $18 billion surplus and raising taxes by over $9 billion, the state’s…
Yesterday, a Twitter (X) account caught my eye, going by the handle of Minnesota Department of Human Services Employees, @Minnesota_DHS. It only has 34 followers, but makes the following claim…
This week I’ve written about some loopy laws being pushed in St. Paul this session: one which would erect a costly regulatory apparatus to govern who could buy, sell, or…
It was free-food day in this morning’s meeting of the state House Children and Families committee. Minnesota Democrats have discovered that free food is extremely popular with the public (72…
Yesterday’s webinar is now available for viewing on YouTube. I mentioned during the webinar that many of the Feeding Our Future defendants also owned other businesses subsidized by other agencies…
Background In the 2023 legislative session, Minnesota’s state government passed $10 billion of hikes to taxes and fees. In November, Minnesota Management & Budget estimated that, in 2027, General Fund…
The 2024 legislative session begins Monday with Gov. Tim Walz telling the Star Tribune “this is going to be one of the more challenging sessions that I’ve had as governor…
Last year, Minnesota’s legislature blew through an $18 billion budget surplus and hiked taxes and fees by another $10 billion for good measure. You might think that would sate the…
In his book The Euro, Nobel Prize winning — and decidedly non-conservative — economist Joseph E. Stiglitz writes: Countries compete to attract firms, capital, and highly skilled workers, and one…
A variety of words have been used to describe the 2023 Minnesota legislative session. Depending on which side of the political aisle you place yourself, the session was either “bonkers”…
Many people have asked me to comment on the civil litigation in state court between the state Department of Education (MDE) and the now-defunct free-food charity Feeding Our Future and…
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a new study which found that working from home is here to stay. I concluded by noting that: If this holds for…
Last week, KSTP released the results of its KSTP-TV/SurveyUSA poll conducted in late January. In the area of fiscal policy, its main findings relating to the last session were: Source: KSTP-TV/SurveyUSA So,…
The Minnesota Legislature is about to build another new office building for themselves, and the Golden Turkey committee is here for it. Without a single vote on the floor of…
We are now up to 70 defendants in the free-food program scandal. The always alert Lou Raguse of KARE 11 was out with a story this afternoon. The U.S. Attorney…
Yesterday, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota indicted Defendant No. 61 in the free-food scandal. The indictment of Hoda Ali Abdi of Burnsville, proprietress of the Alif Halal grocery store, can…
In 2022, Governor Walz ran promising COVID-relief “Walz checks,” which would amount to up to $2,600 for a family of four. On January 30, 2023, according to the Centers for…
Minnesota has one of the most progressive tax systems in the country. That is, high-income earners pay higher tax rates compared to low-income earners. According to a recently published study…
The new issue of the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy is out and it contains a study by economists Joshua Rauh and Ryan Shyu titled “Behavioral Responses to State Income Taxation of High Earners:…
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the ridiculous proposal to impose a tax on unrealized capital gains in Minnesota. If the value of, say, the shares that an…
Are you one of those people who check the box every year on your taxes to designate $5 to the political party of your choice, only to wonder how that…
But the globe-trotting adventures of guilty plea No. 13 have been extended for another month. Earlier this week, a federal judge in Minneapolis denied the overseas travel request of Ahmed…