New state poll shows support for tax hikes on wealthy

Published 10:35 am Tuesday, June 18, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS — A new poll finds broad support for recently-enacted tax hikes on wealthy Minnesotans and cigarette smokers.

The Star Tribune’s Minnesota Poll shows 58 percent of respondents support the tax increase on upper-income earners included in Gov. Mark Dayton’s budget and backed by the DFL. Thirty-six percent oppose the tax. Even more respondents, 64 percent, favor a $1.60 per pack hike in the cigarette tax. Thirty-two percent oppose it.

House and Senate Republicans say the tax increases that will raise more than $2 billion over the next two years will hurt the state’s fragile economy. Both taxes passed the Legislature in May and have been signed into law by Dayton.

Email newsletter signup

The phone poll of 800 adult Minnesotans was taken June 11-13. It has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.