August 18, 1979 - Highlights of President Jimmy Carter's Citizens Energy briefing held at the Landmark Center in Saint Paul prior to his departure on a week-long trip down the Mississippi River to St. Louis on the sternwheeler riverboat the Delta Queen.
May 9, 1975 - Property tax increases average 15 to 20 percent across the state and substantially higher in some cities. John Weston, Duluth city assessor, thinks his city is absorbing all the property tax it can, around 6 percent. He doesn?t think the tax was ever designed to carry such things as welfare, it was meant to take care of a municipality, it has been overused. U of M extension economist Arlee Waldo says for autonomy local governments need their own source of taxed revenue. State law prohibits local sales and income tax. A tax other than property tax would be worse because of variability. The property tax provides a smaller portion of government revenue than it used to. In 1971 it accounted for 47 percent, last year it dropped to 34 percent.Allen Boyce of the Citizen?s League Committee favors a gradual decrease in revenue from property tax to 25 percent. He says the overall level of tax is determined by how much money govenment spends. Every man?s tax break is another man?s tax burden. One problem facing cities is inflation and government method of funding projects.
May 7, 1975 - Are those who are benefitting from exempt status when it comes to property taxes abusing the system? That question is debated here in a discussion including Ramsey County Assessor William Carlson, who would like to push for stronger limits on what constitutes an 'exempt' property. On the other side is Alan Boyce of the Citizens' League who argues that exempt status increases the value of properties adjacent.
May 6, 1975 - Property tax inequity gets an overview by varying groups. The Minnesota Citizen's League aruges that backroom dealings and a lack of regulation on assessors is to blame, while others, including the Governor's office argue that the law places the biggest financial burdens on those who fall into the low income bracket.