State and local taxes and spending Star Tribune: St. Cloud will use federal relief to offset lost revenue KNSI: Minnesota to Finish Fiscal Year 2021 Stronger Than Expected Pioneer Press:…
When I wrote in the Star Tribune in April that ‘enhanced’ unemployment benefits were one factor explaining the puzzle of record job openings coexisting with elevated levels of unemployment, not…
It didn’t take long for residents in the besieged Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis to react to word that the latest threat to the area was finally being cleared out by…
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…
Back in 2015, President Obama compared Minnesota favorably with Wisconsin, holding up our state’s high, progressive taxes as the model for others to follow. When I joined the Center in 2017, we…
State and local taxes and spending Associated Press: Walz celebrates budget as House leaders credit ‘win-wins’ Southernminn.com: Legislature passes final budget bills Star Tribune: Minnesota’s new budget includes major spending…
At least the organizers of the Uptown Art Fair could blame the popular event’s cancellation last year on COVID-19. But now one of the highlights of the Minnesota summer has…
Last weekend, the Star Tribune reported: This was going to be the big comeback summer for Minnesota’s tourism business. Freed from the limits placed on them last year during the…
The article below originally appeared in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: In the June 7 commentary “Wrong incentives drive energy decisions,” the author correctly notes that utilities have the wrong encouragements. However, these…
Many in America see ills such as poverty and claim that it is government's job to solve them. According to the Declaration of Independence, that isn't how the government of…
Yesterday, news broke that the Coal Creek Station, a 1,150-megawatt power plant that is the largest electricity generator in the state of North Dakota, has found a new buyer, which…
Last month, I wrote that ‘“If you build it, they will come” …might be sound advice when it comes to supernatural baseball fields, but [is] bad advice for government transit.’…
State and local taxes and spending Star Tribune: Minnesota Legislature agrees to nearly $1 billion in tax cuts The Center Square: Minnesota liquor taxes fourteenth-highest in nation MPR News: Tax…
Innovation in government may be the best working definition of an oxymoron. But a concept under consideration by the Burnsville City Council may force skeptics to reconsider. The idea is…
Tuesday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Minnesota Senate Republicans have caved on their bid to delay Governor Walz from imposing deeply unpopular California car mandates on Minnesota drivers. The…
University of Minnesota President Joan Gabel has taken the institution’s tagline “Driven to Discover” to heart in a whole new way. A year after precipitously reducing ties with the Minneapolis…
Crime is surging in Minneapolis; that is not new. As a new article by the Star Tribune reveals, According to the most recent police statistics, the number of people shot…
State and local taxes and spending Minn Post: Latest tax collection report reveals the state of Minnesota is pretty much rolling in cash Bemidji Pioneer: Commentary: State needs to fix…
In April, I had an op-ed in the Star Tribune titled: ‘A new unemployment problem: it pays too well.’ In it, I noted the phenomenon of elevated levels of unemployment…
State and local taxes and spending Minn Post: Is a state government shutdown looming in Minnesota? Naaaaah. Minnesota Reformer: Lawmakers poised to miss self-imposed deadline on $52 billion budget Southernminn.com:…
Sometimes even a lawyer can use a good lawyer. Take the case of St. Cloud attorney Wesley Scott, who allegedly not only fired two employees thought to be Trump supporters…
If the COVID-19 pandemic was really ever an emergency, that time has long passed. Walz does not need to keep his emergency powers.
Minnesota’s media is in a state of excitement today over a new report from think tank ProPublica which “Reveal[s] How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax.” There is much less to…
On Monday morning, representatives of Minnesota’s craft breweries, distilleries, and wineries gathered at the state capitol to urge legislators to pass the ‘Drink Local Economic Recovery Package’, SF 1176 and…