High Speed Rail (we called it), Minnesota’s Ethanol Efficiency, and Elko Ditches Police
April 16th, 2009 at 2:04 pm By Jason HitchcockBudget Bites: Sin Tax Increases in Minnesota?
Three kinds of taxes are currently imposed on alcoholic beverages. A general excise tax is imposed on alcohol by the gallon or barrel and is paid at the wholesale level. The amount of the tax varies quite a bit depending on the alcohol content and type of spirit in question. For example, wine with 14% alcohol content or less is taxed at 30 cents per gallon, while distilled spirits are taxed $5.03 per gallon. And so on. In this way, these taxes are different from the general sales tax, which is a percentage of the sales price. As a result, these alcoholic beverage taxes don’t automatically increase as prices rise with inflation – and in fact, they haven’t been raised since 1987. In FY 2008, this tax collected $73 million.
Star Tribune: After Elko New Market yanks its police, citizens are left wondering
Before the April 9 vote, city staff members told the council that the local police department would cost about $56 an hour to maintain the average 90 hours of coverage per week. For Scott County deputies to cover the town, the cost would be about $66 per hour for 80 hours of service each week.
US Dept. of Transportation: A Vision for High Speed Rail
In France, high-speed rail has pulled regions from isolation, ignited growth, remade quiet towns into thriving tourist destinations. In Spain, a high-speed line between Madrid and Seville is so successful that more people travel between those cities by rail than by car and airplane combined. China, where service began just two years ago, may have more miles of high-speed rail service than any other country just five years from now. And Japan, the nation that unveiled the first high-speed rail system, is already at work building the next: a line that will connect Tokyo with Osaka at speeds of over 300 miles per hour. So it’s being done; it’s just not being done here
Science Daily: Midwestern Ethanol Industrial Processes Use Much Less Water Than That Used In Western Plants
States where irrigation is needed to grow corn fared far worse than those where almost no corn is irrigated. California, which produces only a tiny fraction of the nation’s ethanol but irrigates most of its corn, is the largest water consumer, at about 2,100 gallons of water per gallon of ethanol. South Dakota, with total production roughly equal to Minnesota’s, uses about 96 gallons of water to produce one gallon of ethanol.
Mankato: Our View: Rail should be big part of future
The opportunity to expand rail transportation comes at a particularly opportune time. Gasoline prices have been horrendously high the past few years, and are likely to remain at least very volatile into the future. As a result, moving goods by truck has become expensive with the high fuel prices.
Even if the trucking industry can survive high fuel prices, it is become increasingly difficult and expensive to keep roads and highways in a condition that makes them safe and congestion free for the trucking industry.
Consumers, too, are looking for ways to reduce their commutes and reduce their carbon footprint.
Daily Planet: Minnesota is no place to be sick and poor
President Obama is wrestling with the U.S. Senate over the issue. While they battle it out, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is free and clear to completely ignore low-income taxpayers’ needs.
In his first term, Gov. Pawlenty went after low-income health care with a butcher’s vengeance, slashing programs and clinics left and right. So today, in this jacked-up economy, Minnesotans with shallow pockets have a deeper problem than ever keeping body and breath together. And a word or two to say about it.
Post Bulletin: Improving oversight will clean up state government
Other legislative auditor reports have found yet more mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. Some of the most egregious findings included the following instances:
- A former Health and Human Services employee stole more than $1 million during a period of five years.
- Nine Minnesota Veterans Home employees took more than $2 million in overtime pay during three years.
- $1.5 million in state bonding funds were misappropriated last year.
- A MnDOT worker spent $26,000 in state funding on long-distance phone calls and vacations.
- The DNR spent more than $300,000 on an international game warden conference.
LikeTags: Elko, ethanol, Governor Pawlenty, Health Care, LGA, New Market, Oversight, Public Safety, Rail, Tobacco Tax
