Dayton donates only $1,000 of income to charities. Commentary on personal values and priorities in life.

Some of the gubernatorial candidates released their 2012 tax return information. While Dayton is an heir of the Dayton department store fortune it's not surprising the bulk of his 2012 income came from capital gains and dividends.  What was a bit of an eye opener was of his $343,234 income he donated only $1,000 to charity. 

Gov. Mark Dayton had $343,234 in income last year, with his earnings from capital gains and dividends exceeding the income from his state salary of $116,125.

Dayton received $92,381 from a family trust, more than double what he received from the Bruce Dayton trust the year before. He also earned $130,291 from capital gains, down from the $190,998 he received in 2011. According to his tax return, Dayton donated $1,000 to charity.

Only $1,000? That speaks volumes about his personal values and priorities. The fact that he fought so vociferously so he and other higher income folks would pay more in taxes says the government is the source of good in society. It's the answer to what ails us. Not the spiritual message of churches and other groups. Not charities which seek to meet the spiritual and material needs of people.

Economics 101: How to increase jobs and economic growth. Not by raising taxes.

There's a big debate in the states over how to increase economic activity and jobs.  Several state governors want to either eliminate or seriously cut their income tax rates to attract businesses and talented workers.  Others, like Minnesota, are heading in the opposite direction.  Governor Dayton wants to put in "a new, fourth tax rate of 9.85 percent on income above $150,000 for single filers and $250,000 for joint filers. Currently, the top state income tax rate is 7.85 percent."

Polling of Minnesotans suggest they oppose the sales tax increase because it will directly affect them while they support higher taxes on the wealthy.  Because, I presume, it means somebody else will be paying higher taxes.

According to the poll released Wednesday evening, 65 percent of Minnesotans support Dayton’s plan to hike income taxes by 2 points on the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans. Only 30 percent polled opposed the move. The plan, which was part of the governor’s January budget proposal, would raise more than $1 billion for the state’s coffers while lawmakers are looking to wipe out a $1.1 billion budget deficit.

The same can’t be said for the governor’s plan to lower the state’s sales tax rate from 6.875 percent to 5.5 percent while adding it to many business-to-business services and clothing purchases of $100 or more. Only 30 percent of those polled support the move to expand the sales tax to clothing and things like haircuts and auto repairs, while 55 percent of those polled were opposed. When it comes to adding the sales tax to business services such as legal and accounting work, 59 percent of those polled were opposed, 34 percent supported the move, and 8 percent said they weren’t sure.

I suspect Minnesotans might feel differently about taxing the wealthy if they knew it meant fewer jobs and slower economic growth.

I've always felt raising taxes on anybody means the middle and lower classes will get hit.  There isn't enough wealth even among the wealthy to pay for the heightened appetite for more government so invariably taxes will rise on lower income groups.  That's the case with Dayton's sales tax increase proposal.  But also, businesses will simply pass along tax increases to consumers in the form of higher prices.  And finally, the wealthy can move to lower tax jurisdictions and there are enough tax shelters available that smart CPAs and lawyers will find them so they still can avoid the full effect of tax increase proposals.

One can't legislate away the laws of economics.