Minnesota’s tax system is on a more progressive track, meaning that middle- class families are bearing less of the burden compared to the richest Minnesotans, according to a new report This is largely due to the tax fairness measures passed by DFL majorities and signed into law by Governor Dayton last year.
Minnesota was the 11th most regressive state in the nation in 2000, meaning only 10 states had a more fair tax system. However, from 2000- 2010, tax regressivity nearly doubled, largely because of conservatives cutting funds for local cities and counties, and shifting costs onto property owners. Minnesota slipped from 11th to 16th in the rankings.
2013 reversed this trend. Progressive majorities created a more fair tax system, asking the wealthiest 2% of Minnesotans to pay their fair share and increasing tax relief for working families.
In this way, the 2013 tax act helped reverse the state and local tax regressivity that accumulated under conservative control of state government over the last decade, thereby improving Minnesota’s rank among the 50 states in terms of the degree of tax regressivity from 16th to 10th and cutting the level of regressivity by nearly half based on ITEP data.
This will directly help working families, and that’s the difference progressive majorities can make.
