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Pawlenty’s Tax Increases

Gov. Pawlenty tried to tell Minnesotans that he would hold the line and keep his “no new taxes” promise, but homeowners across the state have learned the truth. Pawlenty’s cuts to local governments spiked property taxes across the state, even though the cities didn’t seek all of the money Pawlenty took from them. [1]

Since 2002, property taxes have gone up nearly 90% in Minnesota.[2] (40% for inflation adjusted if we’d rather use that). Eight in ten cities in the state have seen an increase in property taxes, while nearly seven in ten saw an increase over 10%. [3]

While Tim Pawlenty may try and convince conservatives that he been a true “no new taxes” Governor, homeowner’s budgets across Minnesota say otherwise. The truth about Tim Pawlenty is that he’s passed the buck on to property owners to fix his budget troubles.

[1] LGA cuts force property taxes up. State aid to local governments has fallen by $2.6 billion since 2002, in constant 2010 dollars. As a result, local governments have increased property taxes by $1.7 billion. Real per capita statewide property taxes increased 26 percent from 2002 to 2010. [ MN 2020 , 08/31/10]

[2] Homeowner property taxes increased by 38.2 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars and 87.1 percent in nominal dollars from 2002 to 2010. [ MN 2020 , 08/10]

[3] Property taxes have dramatically increased over the last seven years. Of the 854 cities in Minnesota, 677 experienced an increase in per capita property taxes from 2002-2009, while 560 experienced an increase of ten percent or more.

Of the 854 cities, 746 saw an increase in the average homestead property tax from 2002 to 2009, while 530 experienced an increase of 20 percent or more. [ MN 2020 , 04/20/09]

Pawlenty’s Tax Increases

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