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Fiscal Focus

Fiscal Focus is our bimonthly publication providing news, analysis, and commentary on tax and spending topics in the headlines.


April 14, 2015

March / April 2015

Taking Inventory of the 2015 Tax Bills

A look at some of the potential fodder comprising forthcoming omnibus tax bills

The Devil’s Dictionary Guide to the End of Session

Some alternative definitions of words you will hear frequently over the next six weeks

This Year in Pensions: Five Things We Learned

Rip roaring investment markets and new pension accounting standards changed a few things on the surface. Underneath, sustainability pursuits continue to be built on a foundation of sand.

 What Public Pensions and Geology Have in Common

When science fails to explain evidence, the science needs to adapt

February 03, 2015

January/February 2015

Roads Out of Perdition

A look at Minnesota highway finance past and present – and the policy considerations surrounding different revenue options being proposed.

Why is Minnesota Highway Construction Inflation So Much Higher than the Nation’s?

The strikingly large difference between state and national measures of highway cost inflation suggests that the source of, reasons for, and measurement of cost inflation must be part of the larger transportation finance debate.

Minnesota Residency: The “Domicile Swamp”

Guest columnist Gina Ceola, Director, PWC Minneapolis, provides a practitioner’s perspective on the complexity of Minnesota’s residency testing and why Minnesota’s residency laws need greater clarity and simplification.

December 16, 2014

November/December 2014

Divided Again: 2015 Session Preview

The forecast is here, the cast is set, and the curtain is about to rise on the 2015 session.

The Debate On Acknowledging Reality

We offer several questions that deserve careful consideration before any formal reinstatement of expenditure inflation in the economic forecast.

From the Director: Ditchwater Dull?

Technical government finance issues have a major influence on how the public perceives government.