I won't even bother citing where Republicans, starting with the Governor, have called the Senate-proposed new top income tax bracket of 9.7 percent the highest in the nation. You probably think that, too.
Well, it's almost, kinda, sorta accurate, and it sounds a lot better (or worse) than the truth. Let's be charitable and say Gov. Pawlenty is simply misleading us by ignoring a couple of facts pointed out at Invest in Minnesota.
California has a 10.3% income tax rate on taxpayers earning over $1 million a year, and high-earning New York City residents pay more than 10% in state and local income tax.
[...]
The House bill would set the top rate at 9%. In addition to the two listed above, four other states are at 8.97 or higher – Iowa, NJ, Oregon and Vermont. All have outperformed Minnesota on per capita personal income growth since 2003.
So if the Senate bill were to pass over the Governor's dead body, Minnesota's top tax rate would be third behind New York and California — two states that are notorious — NOTORIOUS — for driving rich people to take up residence in Iowa and South Dakota. And if the House bill passed, well, we'd just be somewhere in the lead pack.
Which doesn't make a very crisp soundbite.
