Josh Villa, in his March 28 column, claimed that a recent study released by the Minnesota Department of Revenue was biased because it asserted Minnesota tax policies are regressive, meaning that they take a larger percentage from low-income people than from high-income people.
Villa disagreed with the MDRâÄôs findings, and his conclusions were the typical Republican propaganda any readers of his column have come to expect: Gov. Mark Dayton and Minnesota Democrats, in league with the vile liberal media, wish to push through DaytonâÄôs budget.
Taking an interest in this claim, I did my own research. Each year, the MDR releases a tax incidence study to answer the question, âÄúwho pays MinnesotaâÄôs taxes?âÄù These tax incidence studies reported that Minnesota has had a regressive tax system since at least 2002, years before Dayton was even on the radar for governor.
As a result, Villa comes off as nothing more than a conservative economic zealot, overly eager to cry foul play without even doing the necessary research.