In June, a bill passed in St. Paul waiving taxes owed on 2020 unemployment benefits and, something we argued for, payroll loans. Incredibly for a state government that is so…
In May this year, Jama Pediatrics published research showing that San Francisco’s ban on flavored electronic tobacco products nearly doubled youth smoking rates. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)…
Passed in 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), among other things, capped the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction — the amount of State and Local Taxes paid that…
When the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was introduced in 2017, opponents claimed the bill was a giveaway to the rich. Data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), however,…
On August 10, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) released data showing that “general fund revenues totaled $1.307 billion in July.” This is $67 million (5.4 percent) more than was forecast…
Local government officials meeting by Zoom, under a tight deadline with a mandate to dole out billions of dollars as quickly as possible. What could go wrong? As cities were…
Earlier today, the Senate passed a $1.2 trillion spending bill to fund infrastructure projects for the next five years. Of the $1.2 trillion, $550 billion adds to previously projected federal…
Today we launch the third of our new Policy Briefings: ‘Abolish Minnesota’s estate tax.’ Minnesota imposes heavy estate taxes. We are one of 12 states and the District of Columbia…
With the “Delta Variant” of COVID-19 surging across the United States, the vigorous economic recovery which President Biden inherited from President Trump could be in danger: indeed, last week it…
Cities get ‘creative’ in a rush to spend federal COVID relief largess.
Minnesota didn’t raise taxes. But why not lower them?
Triumphs vs the state bring hope for small businesses.
For the average person, Jeff Bezos using his money to go to space was probably a non-event. However, for some politicians, this signifies a policy failure that needs correcting. Business…
According to the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index, Minnesota has the 46th most favorable tax system for businesses in the country. This is mainly due to high individual…
Every year, the Tax Foundation publishes the State Business Tax Climate Index. The study ranks states not only on how much taxes they impose on businesses, but how well tax…
When the federal government passed three stimulus bills and sent stimulus checks, concerns were raised about the necessity of continuing such payments. This was largely because by mid-2020, it had…
Taxes are incentives. Much public policy is based on this insight. If we tax something, like carbon emissions or cigarettes, it is because we want people to emit less CO2…
Last May, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) released its Interim budget forecast, which predicted a $2.426 billion deficit for the 2021 fiscal year. This deficit turned into a $636 million…
In our report ‘Closing Minnesota’s Budget Deficit: Why we should make spending cuts and not raise taxes,’ we noted that Minnesota already has some of the highest tax rates in…
When President Joe Biden announced plans to raise taxes on the rich and corporations, Amazon supported the idea. “We support the Biden Administration’s focus on making bold investments in American…
After the individual income tax and sales tax revenues, residential property tax revenues make up the third-highest proportion of Minnesota’s total state and local tax revenues. According to the Tax…
In March, I wrote that the so-called “COVID Relief Bill” could block Minnesota’s next governor and legislature from cutting taxes. In May, I followed up, writing that a federal court had…
The Biden administration’s fiscal year 2022 budget would impose a net tax increase of $1.3 trillion. This comes from $2.3 trillion in new taxes on high-income earners and businesses and $998…
The dust is finally settling on the 2021 state budget and the spenders won again. Any chance of lowering taxes and cutting spending was lost when all three entities (House,…