ARTS & FARCES internet

MinnPost.com has published an interactive Minnesota deficit calculator. While it would be much better (and more realistic) if there were sliders instead of radio buttons for the options, I was still able to run up a US$770,700,000 surplus without even touching the “cut spending” section or anything below it.

Here’s how I did it:

1. Extend sales tax to clothing (US$600 million)
2. Extend sales tax to services such as car repair, hair styling, accounting, and legal work (US$868 million)
3. Increase taxes on alcoholic beverages (US$278 million)
4. Increase tobacco tax (US$252 million)
5. Return income tax rates to 1998 levels (US$1.8 billion)
6. Adopt a corporate “throwback” rule (US$39.7 million)
7. Allow a racino or some other state-sponsored gambling (US$140 million) but don’t allow revenue to be diverted for new stadium
8. Create a new 10.95 percent tax bracket for taxable income above US$150,000 a year for married couples (US$1.9 billion)
9. Eliminate home-mortgage interest deduction (US$1.1 billion)

It really wasn’t very hard at all, taking less than 10 minutes to complete.

Here are my personal household notes:

We buy clothes from time to time (I bought a US$300 winter coat last fall) but probably not as many or as expensive as you.

Sales tax on services would extend to our business.

We drink, occasionally and sometimes even immoderately.

Neither of us smoke.

Our 1998 income taxes—like yours—were higher than they are now. Deal with it.

Corporate throwback taxes are only fair; if a business earned a profit on it—regardless of where the profit took place—it’s taxable income in the home state.

I’d reluctantly support a racino or state gambling but only if the revenue was no diverted for a new professional sports stadium. My reluctance isn’t to the gambling bit; it’s related to competing with the Indian casinos—we’ve screwed them enough for several dozen white generations.

A 10.95 percent tax bracket for married couples making more than US$150,000 is a no-brainer. Remember that only the amount over US$150,000 is subject to the new tax. There have been years that we’d be subject to this higher bracket.

For the last several years—because my health insurance was paid for by an employer and because our mortgage is relatively small—we haven’t been able to take the home-mortgage interest deduction anyway. Neither have 71 percent of you. That’ll likely change again now that I’m wholly self-employed.