Minnesotans drive significantly more than the national average.
Do Minnesotans drive too much? Put in the context of broad-based and growing concerns about congestion, transportation costs and environmental impacts, the simple answer is yes. The vehicle miles traveled in Minnesota over the 20-year period from 1986 to 2006 shot up 67 percent, at a time when the state’s population rose by 23 percent. The dramatic increase in miles driven has strained Minnesota’s transportation infrastructure, has made traffic jams commonplace in major metro areas, and has adversely affected air and water quality.
Minnesotans drive significantly more than the national average and the state would benefit from efforts to reduce vehicle travel on Minnesota’s roadways without undermining economic growth.
Growth & Justice presents PowerPoint on tax policy: principles for reform that make system fairer for families, better for business growth
Growth & Justice President Dane Smith recently delivered a presentation to the Governor’s 21 Century Tax Commission, which is an update of our 2005 project, Rethinking Minnesota’s Taxes. The revised PowerPoint, “Re-Rethinking Minnesota’s Taxes” was prepared by Charlie Quimby, Growth & Justice Communications Fellow and a former business owner
The commission, comprised largely of business representatives and tax experts, is charged with making recommendations to improve and modernize the state’s tax code for businesses, specifically to encourage economic growth in a fast-changing, highly competitive and global economy.
High praise for Growth & Justice "Moonshot"
Growth & Justice, and specifically our ambitious education goal for Minnesota, came in for high praise from Star Tribune editorial writer Lori Sturdevant in her Sunday Sept. 14 OpEx column. Likening our aggressive goal of a 50 increase in the higher education attainment rate to the U.S. goal of reaching the moon in the 1960s (a mission that was accomplished with massive investment), Sturdevant wrote that improving the attainment rate is "especially critical for a state like Minnesota, which is banking on its brainpower to keep incomes and quality of life as rich as they were in the last quarter of the 20th Century."
What does the future of Minnesota’s school system look like?
Growth & Justice’s Angie Eilers weighs in on the issue on a panel at the State Fair
Growth & Justice Research & Policy Director Angie Eilers recently took part in a panel discussion on education at the State Fair sponsored by the Minnesota Sesquicentennial Commission.
Eilers and the other panel members, Center for American Experiment’s Mitch Pearlstein, Minneapolis Public School’s Superintendent Bill Green and Education Evolving’s Joe Graba, were asked to discuss what they imagine Minnesota’s schools and school systems will look like in 50 years, when we celebrate Minnesota’s Bicentennial. Introduced by Bush Foundation President Peter Hutchinson, the panel was moderated by Lori Sturdevant from the Star Tribune.
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