Report: Higher taxes helped Minn. economy outpace Michigan

This item reported at Crain's Detroit Business on June 16, 2014

"Higher taxes — including those on business — are the key to Minnesota's economic good fortune in recent years, according to a report issued Monday by Michigan Future Inc. that takes an in-depth look at why our neighbor state has so outpaced Michigan in economic fortune since 1990.

For example, in 2012 Minnesota ranked 11th in the U.S. with per capita income of $46,227, the highest in the Midwest, while Michigan was 35th at $37,497. The difference was $8,730. In 1993, the difference favored Minnesota by just $555.

Other key statistics? As of last December, unemployment in Minnesota was 4.6 percent, the ninth-lowest in the country. Michigan had the fourth-highest, at 7.3 percent. And in 2012, Minnesota had a poverty rate of 11.4 percent, compared with 17.4 percent in Michigan."

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