Publications

The recently released January Revenue and Economic Update gave us somewhat welcome news about the state’s economic and budget landscape. The quarterly report… Continue reading Minnesota’s January economic update shows welcome news for revenues and economy

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has improved about 800,000 lives in the United States, and 6,300 in Minnesota. However,… Continue reading 4 Reasons DACA should be restored ASAP

Minnesota has experienced a fairly strong economic recovery since the Great Recession, with low overall unemployment and a growing economy.… Continue reading State of Working Minnesota: Low-wage workers still struggling in the economy with stagnant wages

The Senate tax bill includes changes in health care policy that would result in 13 million fewer Americans having health insurance and… Continue reading US Senate tax bill would cause millions to lose affordable health care, proposed “fixes” wouldn’t undo the harm

Predicting the future is a tricky business, especially in uncertain times. But nonetheless today’s state budget and economic forecast is… Continue reading Minnesota’s November budget forecast shows deficits amid high uncertainty

Note: I had the opportunity to see Dr. Peter Fisher present on state business climate rankings at the recent Minnesota… Continue reading Rankings of state “business climate” are misleading, fall short of actual measures

Minnesota Budget Project Director Nan Madden’s public statement on the Senate tax bill passed last week: I’m extremely disappointed, and frankly… Continue reading Senate tax bill harmful, irresponsible

The U.S. Senate is currently considering a tax bill that would provide the largest tax benefits to those already doing well in… Continue reading Child Tax Credit in Senate tax bill provides minimal benefits to working families, harms immigrant families

With the state scheduled to release its latest Economic and Budget Forecast next Tuesday, it’s a good time to look back… Continue reading State budget adds to an uncertain future

The latest tax bill moving through Congress shares the same harmful architecture as previous versions, and it adds on the… Continue reading Fiscally irresponsible Senate tax plan prioritizes corporate tax cut, many everyday Americans made worse off

The tax bill moving quickly through the U.S. House fails to do what its proponents claim: it is not focused… Continue reading High-income households get largest share of tax cuts, and their share gets bigger over time

The tax plan released in the U.S. House yesterday retains the same basic architecture as the unified tax frameworkpreviously released, and… Continue reading US House tax plan still fatally flawed

The U.S. Senate’s budget plan calls for deep cuts in supports that low- and middle-income Minnesotans count on and would likely shift… Continue reading Senate Budget Resolution: Different package, same bad news

Income inequality has gotten worse in Minnesota – and every state – over the past 50 years, and the highest-income… Continue reading Many Minnesotans struggle to make ends meet while others prosper

This week’s October Revenue and Economic Update gave us somewhat unwelcome news about the state’s economic and budget landscape. The quarterly report from… Continue reading October Economic Update shows state revenues and expected economic growth down

Minnesota legislators put both the state’s balanced budget and Minnesotans’ health at risk with the Health and Human Services budget bill… Continue reading Minnesota’s Health and Human Services budget deal puts state fiscal stability at risk

The federal tax framework released last week fails to prioritize our nation’s working families. Instead, it would provide most of its tax… Continue reading Most of federal framework’s tax cuts go to top 1 percent

New data from the Census released today show the nation’s economic recovery is boosting incomes and reducing hardship, including in Minnesota.… Continue reading Census: Incomes on the rise, but many still struggle to get ahead

The share of Minnesotans covered by health insurance is historically high, according to new U.S. Census data released today. Minnesota was… Continue reading New Census data highlight what’s at risk from federal health care threats

U.S. Senators are reportedly still considering a health care bill that would leave millions of Americans uninsured, eliminate protections for expectant mothers and… Continue reading Cassidy-Graham: Different lipstick, same pig

Too many families face persistent financial insecurity, and the situation is often much worse for Minnesota’s households of color. That’s from… Continue reading Opportunity out of reach for some communities in Minnesota

Several proposals to radically alter health insurance for the worse failed in the U.S. Senate last month. Congress should now turn… Continue reading US Senate votes mean Medicaid and affordable health insurance for millions of Americans are preserved for now

The U.S. House has released their budget resolution – or the framework they propose to use to pass a budget… Continue reading US House budget: Trading access to health care, SNAP for tax cuts for wealthy, defense spending

Republicans in the U.S. Senate are reportedly working on health care legislation that could come up for a vote as… Continue reading U.S. Senate still considering harmful health care bills

This week’s July Revenue and Economic Update gave us mixed news about the state’s economic and budget landscape. The quarterly report… Continue reading Minnesota’s July Economic Update shows slightly lower revenues, economic growth on track

On June 22, Republicans in the U.S. Senate revealed their Better Care Reconciliation Act (BCRA) proposal to “repeal and replace”… Continue reading Takeaways from U.S. Senate health care proposal: 22 million more uninsured, higher costs for many

Minnesota’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) recipients pay an estimated $15 million in state and local taxes, according to a report… Continue reading DACA recipients make important tax contributions to Minnesota

Minnesota’s costs to ensure health care for a particular group of Minnesotans would increase by 228 percent in 2021 if… Continue reading Republicans’ federal health care bill devastating to Minnesotans, would shift significant responsibility to the state

For more than 50 years, Medicaid has played a crucial role in the American health insurance landscape. In Minnesota, this state-federal… Continue reading Threats to Medicaid are a threat to Minnesota newborns, seniors, and everyone in-between

President Donald Trump’s budget proposal hurts our nation’s families, communities, and state and local finances. It undermines basic tenets of… Continue reading President Trump’s budget proposal hurts people, communities, Minnesota

On May 9, the Minnesota Legislature passed a Health and Human Services (HHS) omnibus bill that reduces general fund spending on HHS… Continue reading Legislature’s Health and Human Services bill makes drastic cuts to health care for families and children, relies on gimmicks

There’s more to be done to get to a tax bill that takes a balanced approach between tax cuts and… Continue reading Balanced tax bill should be the goal; Legislature’s tax bill has a ways to go

Policymakers have put together their visions for Higher Education in FY 2018-19. The Legislature’s conference committee report includes $125 million… Continue reading Legislature’s higher education budget makes some financial aid investments but misses important opportunity

Earlier this month, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to cut roughly $1 trillion of support for Americans’… Continue reading House Republicans vote to slash more than $1 trillion from federal health insurance while giving giant tax cut to nation’s wealthiest

We look to our policymakers to best position Minnesota to build on our state’s strengths and expand economic security to… Continue reading Estate tax cuts are one of top priorities in Legislature’s tax proposal

In these final weeks of this legislative session, policymakers are putting together the state budget for the FY 2018-19 biennium,… Continue reading Minnesota’s FY 2018-19 budget being put together

It may come as a surprise that the House omnibus tax bill, which has over $1 billion in tax breaks… Continue reading Renters pay for others’ tax cuts in House bill

The Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) makes child care affordable for about 30,000 Minnesota children all across the state, including… Continue reading New state data highlight increasing importance of investing in child care assistance

When legislators come back to the capitol next week, a conference committee will work to determine what path Minnesota will… Continue reading Will Real ID conference committee pass “clean” bill?

This week’s April Revenue and Economic Update gave us some good news about the state’s economic and budget landscape. The… Continue reading Minnesota’s April Economic Update shows higher revenues, economic growth on track

Earlier this month, Governor Mark Dayton released his supplemental budget for FY 2018-19, which makes a number of changes to… Continue reading Governor Dayton’s supplemental budget makes additional investments, primarily in pre-k

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump released his budget outline for federal discretionary spending. (That’s a fancy name for spending that… Continue reading Trump’s budget proposes cuts in services for most vulnerable and in funding to states

The Minnesota Senate recently released its budget targets, which describe how they propose using the state’s projected $1.7 billion surplus in… Continue reading Senate budget targets call for tax cuts, cuts to health and human services, some investments

This post was updated on March 29 in response to updated targets. Last week the Minnesota House of Representatives released… Continue reading House targets bring déjà vu – similar to Senate’s targets, they focus on huge tax cuts, big cut to health and human services

On Monday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis detailing how the American Health Care Act (AHCA) would… Continue reading Congressional Budget Office: Republican health care plan would do little to resolve Minnesota’s insurance market woes and would mean 24 million more uninsured

Note: This blog is part of a series on Governor Mark Dayton’s FY 2018-19 budget proposal, including his HHS budget, his education budget and… Continue reading Governor Dayton’s FY 2018-19 budget: Focus in economic development, housing, transportation is expanding opportunity for Greater Minnesota, people of color