During his first four years in office, Gov. Dayton
raised the state income tax from 7.85 to 9.85 percent on individuals earning over $150,000, and on couples earning over $250,000 when filing jointly — a tax increase of
$2.1 billion. He’s also agreed to raise Minnesota’s minimum wage to
$9.50 an hour by 2018.
Between 2011 and 2015, Gov. Dayton added
172,000 new jobs to Minnesota’s economy — that’s 165,800 more jobs in Dayton’s first term than Pawlenty [an anti-tax Republican] added in both of his terms combined. Even though Minnesota’s top income tax rate is the
fourth highest in the country, it has the
fifth lowest unemployment rate in the country at 3.6 percent.
By late 2013, Minnesota’s private sector job growth
exceeded pre-recession levels, and the state’s economy was the
fifth fastest-growing in the United States. Forbes even ranked Minnesota the
ninth best state for business (Scott Walker’s “Open For Business” Wisconsin came in at a
distant #32 on the same list).
As of January 2015, Minnesota has a
$1 billion budget surplus, and Gov. Dayton has pledged to reinvest more than one third of that money into public schools. And according to Gallup, Minnesota’s economic confidence is
higher than any other state.
