The Republican-controlled House voted Wednesday to give Minnesota communities the option to enact half-cent sales tax increases, to cut back local government aid to Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth and to curtail the renters' property tax credit. How will the House tax bill be reconciled with a very different Senate bill based on an income tax increase for the richest 44,000 Minnesotans? ( 05/12/2005)

With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, Gov. Pawlenty is urging legislative leaders to reach a budget deal. The call came as the House was passing a vastly different tax bill than the one that passed the Senate last week. And taxes aren't the only issue on which the House and Senate are far apart. (05/11/2005)

The Minnesota Senate on Friday approved a DFL plan to raise income taxes on the wealthiest Minnesotans. The tax increase was approved on a 35-to-28 vote. (05/06/2005)

As both parties search for ways to make ends meet on a state budget, tax proposals continue to crop up. Midmorning looks at the various options. ( 05/06/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday blasted a Senate DFL plan to raise taxes on upper-income Minnesotans. The Senate tax bill would create a temporary 11-percent top income-tax rate. Senate Democrats who support the plan say it asks Minnesotans who benefitted from the economic boom of the '90s to help balance the budget. But not all Senate Democrats back the plan. (05/05/2005)

The Senate Taxes Committee voted Wednesday night to hike income taxes, perhaps temporarily, on some six-figure earners to raise nearly $1 billion for state coffers. (05/05/2005)

House Republicans narrowly passed a hard-hitting budget bill Friday that Democrats said would further squeeze government-subsidized child care, job-training and housing programs. (04/29/2005)

Minnesota's Senate Democrats released a budget Wednesday outlining $1 billion in new state spending, mostly for education, but they refused to say how they would raise the money. Republican leaders blasted the proposal, calling it "laughable" and "a complete sham," and scolded the DFL for not suggesting a funding source for their plan. Will the two parties be able to find a budget they can agree on? ( 04/21/2005)

Senate DFL leaders Wednesday outlined a plan for about $1 billion in new state spending. Most of the money would go to public schools. Senate Democrats did not say where the money would come from, however, and Republican leaders promptly blasted the plan. (04/20/2005)

Groups opposed to tax increases say they will stifle job growth in the state. Advocates for a tax increase say scrimping on education and other state priorities will do far more harm to Minnesota's economy. The issue is ready to boil over at the Capitol. (04/14/2005)

Here's the choice facing House members in coming weeks: Back a state-run casino at Canterbury Park or trim thousands off state health care programs, slice into funding for higher education and delay aid checks for public schools. Those stakes are part of a budget resolution approved Wednesday by the House on a 68-66 vote. (04/13/2005)

A House committee has adopted spending targets for the next budget that underscore the shaky state of gambling proposals at the state Capitol. The Ways and Means Committee spending resolution outlines two sets of spending levels -- one with casino revenues and one without. (04/13/2005)

Lawmakers on the Senate Transportation Committee got a long-awaited chance Tuesday to question the CEO of Northwest Airlines. Doug Steenland agreed to appear after the committee took the highly unusual step of voting to subpoena him. Steenland's testimony covered airport expansion, job agreements with the state, and outsourced aircraft maintenance. But he did not come in for the grilling some had expected. (04/12/2005)

Gov. Tim Pawlenty says prospects don't look good for his plans to use casino revenue to fill out the state budget, and he says legislative attempts to bury the proposal are a backdoor push for new state tax increases by Senate Democrats. DFLers haven't released their own budget blueprint, but there's a growing consensus at the Capitol that the Democrats' plan will ultimately rely on new tax revenue. (04/06/2005)

In the the first major debate of the session on whether to raise taxes, the Minnesota House of Representatives voted to cap state spending at $29.8 billion over the next two years, while rejecting an attempt to raise the limit to provide more money for schools. (03/29/2005)