John Phelan at the Center for the American Experiment does great work on various economic issues, particularly regarding Minnesota. Here is a recent post showing just how heavy the tax burden is in Minnesota, particularly for middle-income persons. Look at the charts in particular. Note that our high rates of income tax kick in at a very low level of income relative to other high-tax states; $200,000 is not a lot of money for a young two-earner family with children. The total of all the taxes they pay, federal and state, would eat up at least a third of that income, probably closer to half. Minnesota is a very family unfriendly state.
What is particularly concerning about this is that for all this taxing and spending, what we get is a rapidly declining educational system, with worse outcomes than almost every southern state, infrastructure that is falling apart–roads, parks, etc, an economy whose only growth is in government, and massive fraud and waste. (CAE Post)
