We’re talking taxes in your Tuesday news roundup:

MinnPost: Pawlenty’s county cuts will lead to higher property taxes

MN2020’s Jeff Van Wychen shares his research with MinnPost.

“There have been two major effects of the cuts in county revenue imposed by the state over the last eight years.  First, county budgets have shrunk.  Total real per capita county revenue is projected to drop by 7.1 percent from 2002 to 2009, which is greater than the decline in state revenue net of transfers to local governments.  This is an indication that the budget balancing measures taken by the state have hit counties harder than they have hit state government.

The second effect of the large cut in county revenue has been significant increases in county property taxes.  From 2002 to 2009, real per capita county property taxes are estimated to increase by 11.4 percent.  (Without adjusting for inflation and population growth, the increase is approximately 50 percent.)  Due primarily to changes in state law, these property tax increases have fallen disproportionately on homeowners.”

Minnesota Independent: State sends experts to Germany for health care how-to

Glad to see our state leaders looking at a system that works.

MPR: Survey shows disparities in health care coverage for Minnesota kids

This is shameful.

“Minnesota ranks third in the nation in the percentage of people who have health insurance, according to recent figures from the U.S. Census. But new survey data indicate some disparities around the state – particularly for kids.”

WCCO: Lakeville School Says Quarter Of Students Out Sick

KAAL: Possible Changes to the School Day

MNpublius: Pawlenty raises taxes on Minnesotans — again

“Tim Pawlenty says he’s against raising taxes, but that’s really not accurate. What he means is that he’s against raising taxes transparently and fairly. He’s fine raising taxes by stealth, by passing them onto local governments in the form of property taxes. He’s also fine raising taxes if the move is obscured, such as renaming new taxes and calling them “fees.” And he’s fine raising taxes if it’s just on poorer Minnesotans, such as his arbitrary decision to reduce the renters’ property-tax rebate but not the homeowners’.”

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Tags: Budget, Governor Pawlenty, H1N1, Health Care Reform, property taxes

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009 at 11:17 am and is filed under Education, Health Care, Minnesota Communities, Taxation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.