Minnesota Madness

Well, there’s some hope for the economies of Ohio and Michigan, if other Midwestern states travel down the foolish path of Minnesota (Wall Street Journal link requires subscription) described by Jason Lewis:

(The state legislature has) Plans that include a dizzying array of new taxes totaling $4 billion. This, in a state of five million people with a biennial state budget of $31.5 billion.

And this, too, in a state whose general fund is running a $2.2 billion surplus — even after an automatic, built-in increase of $1 billion.

Nevertheless, Democrats have introduced bills raising all income tax rates, including one for the highest top rate in the nation at 9.7%. In the name of transportation, i.e., mass transit, they’ve proposed increasing the gas tax 50%, to 30 cents per gallon at the pump, as well as raising the state sales tax by a half-cent. Add to that levies on everything from beer to mortgages to paint. House Republican leaders say the hikes will cost Minnesota families well over $1,000 per year.

Minnesotans are hardly under-taxed. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the state tax burden in the home state of Walter Mondale and Al Franken already ranks sixth-highest per capita in the nation. The state has decoupled its estate tax from federal relief; it still taxes capital gains as ordinary income. Though it’s hard to shed tears for the subsidy-seeking big business community here, a corporate tax rate of 9.8% is one reason for the anemic job growth of late.

Minnesotans are a hard-working lot and that’s providing some cover for the tax-and-spend crowd. Household income is relatively high, so the liberal intelligentsia argue with a straight face that the tax burden as a percentage of income isn’t going up so fast. But if the state already has a surplus why raise taxes?

Well, it’s simple. Here in the Land of 10,000 taxes it’s called “ability to pay.”

Translation: “We know that the government doesn’t really need the money, but since you have some, we’re taking it.”

Zheesh. Not even Ted Strickland is saying that.

Gopher Staters — those who DON’T like their state’s proposed tax schemes — are welcome to migrate to Ohio (party-line DFLers can stay put, thank you very much). Our weather isn’t as cold, and our Big 10 football and basketball teams are better than yours.