July 11th, 2011
jeff-rosenberg

Minnesota has a revenue problem - the rich aren’t paying their fair share

Republicans have tried to claim that we have a spending problem. They claim they’re not cutting the budget at all, and spending is actually rising! Unfortunately, that’s completely untrue.

In fact, we actually have a revenue problem. Revenue in Minnesota has dropped significantly since the early 1990s, according to data from the Department of Revenue [XLS]. As a percent of total personal income in the state, state and local tax revenues have declined significantly over the past two decades.

That means that in the aggregate, Minnesotans are paying a smaller percentage of our income in taxes than we have in decades. But that’s not the whole story. As I’ve been saying, the rich are getting special treatment.

As a whole, Minnesotans are paying less in taxes. In reality, though, you and I are paying about the same as we always have. It’s the rich who have seen their taxes go down — that’s our revenue problem.

[Chart from the 2011 Tax Incidence Study (PDF)]

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Budget
MN Legislature
Taxes
Research
Shutdown
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