Taxes in Minnesota (St. Cloud, Dakota: sales, home, good schools)

[DannyBanany]

I have just returned home to Rapid City from MSP. I noticed you have no food nor sales tax. Is your income tax high?

[K-Luv]

There's no food!?! What do people eat?

Yes there is a sales tax, just not on food bought from a grocery store, you'll pay a tax at a restaurant, though. There is also not sales tax on clothes. State income tax is like 8.5%, but I am sure that someone will correct me on that.

[swanee]

Originally Posted by K-Luv

Yes there is a sales tax, just not on food bought from a grocery store, you'll pay a tax at a restaurant, though. There is also not sales tax on clothes. State income tax is like 8.5%, but I am sure that someone will correct me on that.

Minnesota state tax is 6.5% but some towns add to that for their own tax. St Cloud, for instance, charges 8% (6.5% State of MN + 0.5% St. Cloud area sales and use tax + 1.0% City of St. Cloud). Other towns don't add on any city tax so it is just the 6.5%. There is no tax on food (except prepared deli or restaurant type food, candy, gum. pop and other drinks that contain sweeteners, alcoholic beverages). There is also no tax on clothes, prescriptions, and some OTC drugs (this just started this past year, and I still have problems with stores trying to charge me tax on some of these item). To determine if an over-the-counter item is an exempt drug, you must look at the label to see if it the label in-cludes a “Drug Facts” panel, or a list of active ingredients. For example, eye drops are taxable unless they have an active ingredient or have a Drug Facts panel on the label. Examples of exempt prescribed and over-the-counter drugs are:
• acne medications
• alcohol (rubbing)
• analgesics (aspirin, acetaminophen, ibuprofen, ketoprofen, naproxen, etc.)
• antacids
• antibiotic creams and ointments
• antifungal creams and sprays
• antihistamines
• antiseptics
• birth control (pills and patches)
• burn remedies
• Chapstick, Blistex
• contraceptives (gels and foams)
• cold and cough medi-cines, drops and lozenges
• decongestants
• diaper rash creams (Desitin, Balmex)
• enema preparations
• eye drops (Visine, tears and lubricants, but not saline solution)
• hydrogen peroxide
• insulin
• laxatives
• Metamucil
• oxygen
• prescription medicines
• rubs (Vicks, Ben-Gay, etc.)
• sleeping pills
• smoking cessation gum and patches
• Vaseline
• yeast infection medications

There is a whole list of pdf files that outline what is and what isn't taxed on the MN state tax website, go to http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/taxes/h...ications.shtml, then choose Fact Sheets, then Sales Tax. The direct link is here, but I don't know if it will work.
http://www.taxes.state.mn.us/taxes/s..._by_name.shtml

[golfgal]

Income taxes are high but property taxes are lower then you will find in South Dakota. It pretty much comes out as a wash between the two for most people. You will also find that you get what you pay for, MN is one of the higher taxed states in the nation but with that you get good schools, good services, good roads, etc. We lived in South Dakota for a few years and it was immediately noticeable the difference in the service levels between the states.