Posted on 04/27/2010 6:07:51 PM PDT by Son House
Mark Dayton is urging the Minnesota legislature to pass an immediate tax hike, using the money to reduce class sizes and stop 4-day school weeks.
Minnesota DFL gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton is proposing a new, higher income tax on the state's highest income earners and said the money should be used to ease the budget crunch at local schools.
The "Millionaire Tax" would be imposed on incomes above $1 million.
Dayton, a former U.S. Senator, called the direction of Minnesota schools a "descent to the bottom, not a Race to the Top."
He is urging the legislature to pass an immediate tax hike, using the money to reduce class sizes and stop 4-day school weeks.
"Which [4-day school weeks] is only allowed in a few other places, including rural Louisiana," said Dayton. "So, great. Now our education is following in the footsteps of rural Louisiana. I mean, this is Minnesota."
The Dayton plan raises taxes on millionaires by up to 3-percentage points, from the current 7.85 percent to a near nation-leading 10.85 percent.
Dayton said it would raise $500 million from the 8400 Minnesotans who earn that much.
The higher tax would apply to Dayton himself, who is among the heirs to the Dayton's department store fortune.
He said he discussed the idea with wealthy members of his family, whom he said don't agree with him.
"I said, 'What is fair? Do you think it's fair that you, if you're making over a million a year in income are paying only two-thirds of what some making $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 a year is paying in Minnesota?'"
Republicans openly scoffed at Dayton's idea. They called state millionaires the creators of jobs in Minnesota's job. Republicans also urged Dayton, himself, to pay more -- if he wants to.
"Is Senator Dayton providing more voluntarily to the Department of Revenue to pay his so-called fair share?" asked Michael Brodkorb, the Associate Chairman of the Minnesota Republican Party. "I doubt that he is."
Dayton's office said Dayton does not pay more in taxes than the state requires, but if he is elected governor he'll pay more because of the millionaire tax he intends to pass.
According to the Minnesota Department of Revenue, 8400 Minnesotans earn an average of $1.2 million annually. Another 1442 earn more than $2.6 million and 30 taxpayers earn more than $26 million.
How about a politician tax? Anyone who holds an office or held an office should pay 5% of their wages for causing deficit spending.
WHAT you TAX....you get LESS OF....bye bye Millionaires in Minnesota....
South Dakota has no income tax.
After all, it's not like millionaires will stop working if we take 70% of their income in taxes, is it? It's not like millionaires who want to keep working will move out of state if we take 70% of their income in taxes. It's not like millionaires who don't want to move will hire an accountant to hide their income if we take 70% of their reported income in taxes. What could possibly go wrong if we levy punitive taxes on the most productive citizens in the state?
Soooooo....
Who wants to be a millionaire now???
I’m no millionaire, but I’m ready to head south and westward.... I hope this blows any chance Dayton has at the governor’s office.
It gets better, the DFL(DFL = Democrat Farm Labor: Democrat in Minnesotan speak) are seething to raise taxes, meet the DFL endorsed candidate;
http://www.postbulletin.com/newsmanager/templates/localnews_story.asp?z=16&a=449598
Republicans targeted the new DFL endorsee. In a written statement, Minnesota Republican Party chairman Tony Sutton emphasized Kelliher’s support for tax increases.
“Given her votes for higher taxes on income, gasoline, and sales, it is clear Minnesota cannot afford Margaret Anderson Kelliher as governor. Kelliher’s support for new tax increases and runaway spending will cause her candidacy to fall flat in the suburbs and Greater Minnesota,” Sutton said.
i think multi-millionaire political spouse tax. say, the husbands
of diane feinstein, nancy pelosi, barbara boxer for starters, then
theresa heinz kerry.
Gee I bet they have an explosion of folks making 900k a year.
Oh, how that is working in Maryland... NOT!
Actually, what millionaires will do, if they live in Minnesota, is move. Or at least move their assets elsewhere. The net effect of confiscatory taxes is that people will go to great lengths to minimize those taxes.
Maybe they will want to move to AZ.
Yep, any Democrat control is going to make leaving easy. Just waiting on the Doctor exodus Rep Walz(D-MN)’s Health sCare bill has brought onto us to start in s.e. quadrant, as property values drop, I may go back into farming as my ancestors, as it will be the only way to eat...
Maryland lost a 1/3 of their millionaires and revenues dropped when they were “supposed to go up”. duh.
Well, technically, being a millionaire simply means that you have a net worth of a million dollars or more. I’d bet that there are (or were before the commies took over) a good number of people who, through assets like their house, possessions, and 401K, are millionaires by definition.
The top 30 I can believe; Minnesota probably has enough top dollar professional athletes, plus a handful of highly paid CEOs, to hit that mark. But the other figures sound high. How many of those 8,400 folks averaging $1.2 million actually pull down that much on an annual basis? My guess is that a fair number of them are reporting a once-in-a-lifetime event such as the sale of a business or the sale of stock options. Does anyone have a feel for the figures?
So how many of those 30 making more than $26 million will stick around to get sucker-punched by yet another socialist’s tax?
Liberalism really is a mental illness. With a large dose of stupid mixed in, too.
Definitions aside, that is exactly what people will do. We see millions work part-time or for part of the year (at least 'on the books') so that they can continue to collect "earned income credit" or state-sponsored unemployment benefits. There is no reason why someone at the higher range of the income scale wouldn't do similar to minimize their tax burden.
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