Dayton Must Sell Sales Tax Change
by Associated Press
January 23, 2013 4:45 PM
Gov. Mark Dayton is starting to sell his proposal to lower Minnesota's sales tax but apply it to more things, including clothes above $100. But one of his toughest markets will be Democrats who control the Legislature.
Dayton pitched his plan Wednesday to greater Minnesota media outlets and plans to tout it around the state. He wants to drop Minnesota's sales tax rate from 6.875 percent to 5.5 percent, but add it to clothes, business services, haircuts and auto mechanics.
Dayton says that and other tax changes, including a 94-cents-a-pack cigarette hike, are the honest way to pay for priorities like education and job training.
DFL lawmakers like Dayton's goals but many are unsure about the sales tax changes. One Democrat from Moorhead says clothes sellers in his border town would lose an advantage over competitors in Fargo.
