Big Revenue Week Ahead

Hello Everyone,

Happy Twins Home Opener and Good Friday to all who celebrate. It’s another jam-packed update including two exciting revenue hearings coming up next week and some more background on the urgent crisis facing HCMC. We end with a little pro-public, tax-positive message inspiration from Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City.

Big Week for Revenue Hearings!

We Make Minnesota is gearing up for a busy week with two hearings on priority bills.

On Tuesday, House Taxes will hear two wealth tax bills aimed at generating revenue from the wealthiest Minnesotans. With wealth inequality at an all-time high, we support bills like these, which would create a fairer tax code by making the wealthiest pay more on the returns to their fortunes. This is a priority not only for tax fairness but for social and economic stability as high enormous concentrations of wealth lead to social instability and political dysfunction.

HF 4123, authored by Rep. Esther Agbaje, expands the base of Minnesota’s existing Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT). The NIIT is a surcharge on income over $1 million per year generated from returns to wealth, such as capital gains, dividends, and other proceeds from wealth and investment holdings. This policy extends the surcharge to also cover passive business income as defined by the federal revenue code.

HF 4616, authored by Chair Aisha Gomez, is a 1% tax on assets (stocks, bonds, cash, real estate, etc.) in excess of $10 million. This is a classic Elizabeth Warren/Bernie Sanders-style wealth tax on financial assets, tangible property, and other forms of wealth. The proposal is similar to one that has been floated in Washington state. As proud as we are of our progressive income tax, WMM very much appreciates the recognition that we will never make progress on reducing inequality without some taxation of the massive accumulated fortunes of the ultra-rich.

And, as if that weren’t enough fun for one week, on Wednesday Senate Taxes will hear a new tax on advertising services. This is the companion bill to Rep. Liz Lee’s proposal in the House, which was heard before the session break.

As a reminder, Chair Rest’s SF 4787 would expand the sales tax base to include advertising services. This bill would both raise revenue and lower the sales tax rate for all taxable goods, reflecting how sales tax exemptions for things like advertising result in a higher rate on all of us. Importantly, that includes businesses using taxable inputs or selling taxable products, which contribute a full 48% of all state sales tax revenue. Why should these businesses, and all of us, pay while large platforms like Google and Meta are exempt?

You can learn more about this policy by watching our press conference from earlier this session, or check out this slick social media video posted earlier today.

Importance of HCMC

Speaking of videos, We Make Minnesota has been doing our part to tell the story of Hennepin County Medical Center and the urgent crisis that its funding struggles pose for our city and our state. Last week, we were proud to spend some time with AFSCME and MNA members from HCMC and share their thoughts through a wonderful video by our friends at LineBreak Media.

HCMC’s financial situation has been strained in recent years due to rising levels of uncompensated care, but the collapse of UCare and the anticipated cuts to Medicaid threaten to put the hospital out of business entirely. This endangers the health of the entire region, as patients from greater Minnesota and neighboring states are directed to HCMC for its Level 1 trauma center, comprehensive burn unit, and hyperbaric medicine department for lifesaving care. This is a public good we cannot go without.

It is also essential to recognize how HCMC’s care for the most vulnerable patients essentially subsidizes the profits of other hospitals, who turn these patients away.

HCMC is the state’s largest safety-net hospital, caring for a high population of uninsured and Medicaid patients who have nowhere else to get care. This puts them in a precarious financial spot compared to hospitals like Mayo, which cultivate healthy bottom lines by catering to the wealthiest people in the world and choosing which patients to treat.

In an op-ed published in the Minnesota Reformer last week, We Make Minnesota Researcher Alec Williams put it simply:

“HCMC’s financial situation was not caused by mismanagement or fraud; it results from a system that reserves basic health care for those who can afford it, leaving underfunded public hospitals to pick up the pieces, and taxpayers to pick up the bill.”

This phenomenon of privatizing the profits and socializing the costs is not unique to healthcare. We see it across industries where public sectors are left to carry the highest costs while private actors capture the gains. Addressing the HCMC’s crisis will require more than just a short-term fix; it should be the start of a broader conversation about how we fund and sustain the public goods our communities rely on.

Messaging on good government

Why not close out with something inspiring? New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has garnered significant media attention for unapologetically progressive politics and approachable messaging. Buta new video released this week highlights a topic that might seem unusual coming from an avowed democratic socialist — cutting down on wasteful spending.

In the video, Mayor Mamdani highlights millions of dollars in savings that New York City has generated by combatting fraud and taking outside contracts in-house. Surprising is it might seem, I believe this is a very important point for progressives to address. No one should be more protective of public dollars than those of us advocating for more of them.

Or, as Mayor Mamdani put it, “To deliver public goods, we first have to deliver public excellence.” Couldn’t agree more.

We Make Minnesota has encouraged a growing conversation about the role that outsourcing public services has played in enabling fraud, and this message is highly compatible with what is coming out of NYC. With budget challenges ahead, we will need new and even bigger ideas for how to get more value out of our tax dollars. We Make Minnesota welcomes that conversation.

Ok, that’s enough for this week. We are not even going to comment on the confusing and unproductive assertion by our sitting governor that Minnesota should avoid additional taxes on the highest-earners. At a time of extreme inequality, in a state reeling from attacks on our most vulnerable communities, this seems tone deaf.

Thankfully, polling routinely shows Minnesotans and Americans in general support higher taxes on those making the most. More on that coming soon.

Thanks for reading!

Eric