The February Budget and Economic Forecast delivered the final budget projections lawmakers need to set their budget targets. The forecast shows Minnesota will spend $39.300 billion in the current 2014-15…
Republicans in the Minnesota House released their budget targets yesterday. The overall target for general fund spending is $39.949 billion. An additional $384 million from sales taxes on auto parts…
In their report on the House budget targets the Star Tribune noted how the Minnesota Tea Party Alliance “called the plan ‘a slap in the face to conservatives’ because it did not cut…
If you had asked us which of the many proposals in the Minnesota Policy Blueprint would be taken up by bipartisan leadership in both the House and the Senate, we…
In 2014, Minnesota’s estate tax collected $177 million in revenue. On net, however, the estate tax likely collected much less revenue after accounting for its impact on other tax revenues. In…
In Rhode Island, Gina Raimondo was elected governor. Who’s she? The state treasurer who became the architect of the Rhode Island’s pension fix. It isn’t the ideal plan, but in…
Understanding the problems with Minnesota’s tax code first requires an understanding of the principles that should guide the state’s tax policy. Sound tax policy should promote three core principles...
Very high rates of family fragmentation in the United States are subtracting from what very large numbers of young people are learning in school and holding them back in other…
Minnesota has long been a fertile state for growing successful businesses. The roster of Fortune 500 companies headquartered in Minnesota in the 1970s...
Minnesota’s health care system struggles with many of the same problems as the rest of the country. In particular, high and...
Keeping The Promise: Securing Retirement Benefits for Current and Future Public Employees | Minnesota’s public employee pension system is broken. The state’s...
The Indispensability of Competition and Choice in Minnesota K-12 Education | K-12 education in Minnesota faces many problems...
In a famous Time magazine story in 1973, Minnesota was epitomized, not just as a particularly well-run state, but as the “State that Works.” Other states might have been close…
The Metropolitan Council (“Met Council”) is an appointed body created by the Minnesota legislature to plan for the growth and delivery of regional services...
In 1999, Mitch Pearlstein, founder and president of Center of the American Experiment, and Annette Meeks, the project’s director, led an effort to create the Minnesota Policy Blueprint, a comprehensive…
Minnesota can and must support and build a world class transportation system that...
Minnesota’s state budget continues to grow and grow, even after adjusting for inflation and population. Total spending in...
Supplying Competitive Electricity Rates | Not long ago, Minnesota’s energy policy focused on providing “adequate and reliable services at reasonable rates.” As a result, Minnesota benefited from low and competitive...
Last week news broke from the Star Tribune that the Minnesota Department of Commerce “asked” PreferredOne to lower rates. At the same time the Star Tribune was developing their story,…
A new study published by the Brookings Institution reveals the rollout of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is imposing far more volatility and harm on people in Minnesota’s individual market…
The Star Tribune reported yesterday that the Minnesota Department of Commerce “asked” PreferredOne to lower insurance rates in the MNsure exchange last year. The July 2013 letter referenced in the…
Obamacare hit the news headlines April 1 by meeting the Obama administration’s goal of enrolling 7 million people by the March 31 enrollment deadline. Casually read the Twin Cities’ news…
Here’s the headline from yesterday’s MNsure press release: “mnsure reaches milestone, exceeds enrollment goal.” Scott Leitz, the interim CEO for MNsure, is “thrilled that more than 136,000 Minnesotans have enrolled in…
Yesterday the MNsure board deliberated over whether or not MNsure—Minnesota’s insurance exchange—should take an “active purchaser” approach, which would empower MNsure to limit the health plans and choices available in the exchange.…