"I really don't want our people feeling they need to flee to states like Texas anymore. We have a beautiful state right here. We just need to make our state as livable as Texas is year round."
Okay - just a warning. I am going to discuss our eclipse trip earlier this month. Why Bird? What in the world does that have to do with taxes or Texas? Simply this. The young couple next to us with their four kids were visiting from Texas. So in this protracted period we had until the darkness came, we had quite a few conversations. Mostly about the livability and affordability of living in Texas.
By the way - I am not ignorant of the fact that Texas just suffered one of the worst hits from Mother Nature that any state has endured. I think it will be interesting to see the "bounce back" that Texas has after the winds and rains have left the area. Based on the character of Texans, I am thinking it might be sooner rather than later.
Okay. So this is about taxes, right? Texas is not much better than us! Give me a break! Okay - let's check the stats. Income tax in Minnesota - highest bracket almost 10%. Income tax in Texas - zero point zero percent. Well, they have to make that up somewhere! I will bet the "death tax" - estate tax outside of Minnesota. Nope. Minnesota is one of a handful of states who still does the estate tax. Texas? Nada. Zero.
Now I am aggravated! With all them roads in that big, big state - I will bet they are soaking those suckers royal at the gas pump! Wrong again buttercup! Texans pay 20 cents a gallon state tax and we pay 28.5 cents.
Texas has become inundated with refugees from - California. Why? Taxes. Believe it or not, California has a higher state tax than Minnesota has. Yet no death tax (per say). Somehow Texas has managed to become like a giant version of Anoka County. Good services with very low taxes. Hennepin County on the other hand, is tax central.
To be fair to those who are ready to hop on board this education thing, I will tell you this couple from Texas we met, did home schooling for their four kids. I asked the father if that was due to Texas schools? Nope. Government schools in general in this country. BTW - all four of his kids were cute, precocious, and sharp as a tack.
Minnesota is standing out like a sore thumb right now. Our taxes are killing us. We are so out of step, it is not even funny. Even my liberal friend Dave, pulled the plug and is living a good part of the year in a lower taxed state down south.
Election season is right around the corner. What will be our direction? Becoming more like Texas which is a magnet for industry and seniors, or the Mark Dayton "Tax Us" state, which is driving everyone (who contributes) away.
We are coming up quickly to the end of Mark Dayton and the tax everything regime. Remember these days as we go forward. Do we have an answer to this mess. Oh, yes we certainly do. Can we "rightsize" our state government? You betcha! Can we compete with Wisconsin for new business? No. We can't - but we can smoke them! We can become the business magnet in the upper Midwest.
I really don't want our people feeling they need to flee to states like Texas anymore. We have a beautiful state right here. We just need to make our state as livable as Texas is year round.
I'm not sure where you get your information from, but...
ReplyDeleteTexas property taxes have more than doubled over the past 13 years, rising 63 percent faster than population and inflation combined, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation.
Nationwide, the poorest 20 percent of Americans will pay an average of 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes
in 2015, while the top 1 percent will pay an average of 5.4 percent.
That means the share of income that the wealthiest are paying towards state and local taxes is roughly half the share of the lowest-income earners.
In Texas, the inequality is even worse. The top 1 percent only pay, on average, 2.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes – one of the lowest rates in the nation.
Meanwhile, the lowest 20 percent of earners pay an average of 12.5 percent of their income in state and local taxes – one of the highest rates in the nation.
That comes out to a tax burden for low-income earners that’s roughly 4.3 times as high as for the top 1 percent.
This disparity lands Texas’s tax structure as the third most regressive in the U.S. And I would surmise, that is what you and other conservatives admire about Texas taxes, put it to the poor.
As the Center for Public Policy Priorities puts it, “Texans who are least able to afford it pay more in taxes as a percentage of their income than those who could easily afford to pay more.”
ps they also have more stray starving dogs than the rest of the US states combined.
pss I winter in AZ, but I am happily paying more than my share of state (85% of SS taxed) and local taxes in Minnesota. That's what helps make this state so great.
Since this is a tax topic, maybe I can get away with something.
ReplyDelete45's unwillingness to release his returns puts Republicans in a bit of a bind.
They will want to talk exclusively about the tax reforms plan's merits and why it makes sense of the American people.
But they won't be able to do that without facing the question of why 45 isn't willing to level with the public about how his family business would be affected by the tax package.
Plus, there are already a decent number of House and Senate Republicans on record as calling for Trump to release the returns.
Far from a side issue, 45's tax returns loom as a giant potential distraction for congressional Republicans as they begin to try to build momentum behind any tax reform bill.
Maybe it won't matter, as Mueller must be close to subpoenaing 45' taxes as part of his investigation into Russian meddling.
Washington state has the most regressive tax in the country. Sounds like a perfect place for a conservative to retire!
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