Feb 11, 2015

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2016, Minnesota collected $33.5 billion in state and local taxes—or $6,055 for every man, woman, and child. While this is an impressive sum of money, it tells us little about whether or not the average Minnesota taxpayer can afford this level of taxation.

Click here to view Tax Burden data by state, type of tax, and for years 1950 to 2016

As shown in Chart 1, Minnesota’s state and local tax Burden (tax collections divided by private sector personal income) was the eleventh highest in the nation for FY 2016 at 15.9 percent—or 11 percent above the national average of 14.3 percent.

#Minnesota state and local #taxburden in FY 2016 was the 11th highest in the nation at 15.9%— 11% above US average of 14.3% http://bit.ly/2FX9C8F @keypolicydata #MNpol #MNleg #MNsen #MNgov #PolicyData (click to tweet)

As shown in Chart 2, Minnesota’s tax burden has increased over time by 54 percent to 15.9 percent in FY 2016 from 10.3 percent in FY 1950.

#Minnesota state and local #taxburden has increased 54% between FY 1950 (10.3%) to 2016 (15.9%) http://bit.ly/2FX9C8F @keypolicydata #MNpol #MNleg #MNsen #MNgov #PolicyData (click to tweet)

Click here to view tax burden data by state, type of tax, and for years 1950 to 2016

As shown in Chart 3, Minnesota’s 15.8 percent tax burden is greater than these combined industries: healthcare and social assistance (13.2 percent), arts, entertainment, and recreation (1.0 percent), and utilities (0.9 percent)

#Minnesota state and local #taxburden > combined industries: healthcare, arts/entertainment, and utilities http://bit.ly/2FX9C8F @keypolicydata #MNpol #MNleg #MNsen #MNgov #PolicyData (click to tweet)

Minnesota’s higher than average state and local tax burden is driven by a significant individual income tax burden (5.1 percent, 6th highest), corporate income tax burden (0.7 percent, 8th highest), and all other taxes burden (2.6 percent, 18th highest) which more than offsets the other lower taxes such as the property tax burden (4.0 percent, 27th highest), and sales tax burden (2.7 percent, 36th highest).

Of course, the tax burdens for local government can vary just as much as they do among the 50 states. As such, we have also calculated the local government tax burden for every County in Minnesota—this includes every taxing jurisdiction within the geographic county borders whether it is a city, a special district, or county government itself.

The 20 Minnesota counties with the highest local government tax burden include:

• Mahnomen County, MN (10.1 percent)
• Cook County, MN (8.5 percent)
• Traverse County, MN (6.7 percent)
• Mille Lacs County, MN (6.4 percent)
• Lake County, MN (6.2 percent)
• Cass County, MN (6.2 percent)
• Crow Wing County, MN (6.1 percent)
• Itasca County, MN (5.9 percent)
• Pine County, MN (5.8 percent)
• Hubbard County, MN (5.8 percent)
• Aitkin County, MN (5.8 percent)
• Carlton County, MN (5.6 percent)
• Grant County, MN (5.6 percent)
• Wadena County, MN (5.3 percent)
• Big Stone County, MN (5.2 percent)
• Ramsey County, MN (5.1 percent)
• Lake of the Woods County, MN (5.1 percent)
• Faribault County, MN (5.0 percent)
• Freeborn County, MN (5.0 percent)
• Beltrami County, MN (4.8 percent)

The 20 Minnesota counties with the lowest local government tax burden include:

• Rice County, MN (3.6 percent)
• Olmsted County, MN (3.6 percent)
• Murray County, MN (3.6 percent)
• Isanti County, MN (3.6 percent)
• Fillmore County, MN (3.6 percent)
• Pipestone County, MN (3.5 percent)
• Nobles County, MN (3.5 percent)
• Wright County, MN (3.5 percent)
• Mower County, MN (3.3 percent)
• Dakota County, MN (3.2 percent)
• Houston County, MN (3.2 percent)
• Clay County, MN (3.2 percent)
• Scott County, MN (3.2 percent)
• Marshall County, MN (3.2 percent)
• Pennington County, MN (3.1 percent)
• Roseau County, MN (3.1 percent)
• Carver County, MN (3.0 percent)
• Winona County, MN (3.0 percent)
• Nicollet County, MN (3.0 percent)
• Washington County, MN (2.8 percent)

Click here to view tax burden data by state, type of tax, and for years 1950 to 2016

Finally, don’t forget to watch our exclusive time-lapse video of state and local tax burdens over the last 66 years! See if your state has been above or below the national average?