When Governor Dayton proposed to charge a sales tax on clothing items costing more than $100, fashion-challenged Minnesotans like me shrugged. In fact, until the Governor made that proposal, I personally was not even aware that clothing items costing more than $100 existed.
But Senate DFLers are going a step further, and it’s a step too far. They’re proposing to charge a sales tax on clothing items under $100. I’m fine with their “soak the rich” income tax proposal, but this “soak the kitsch” tax is an outrage.
This would be a devastating blow to those of us who have found that one can build a kick ass wardrobe at Mennards and Fleet Farm, and never exceed a $20 per item threshold, much less a $100 per item threshhold. Truthfully, my Carhartt ensembles looks better than the pretentious crap the swells buy at Nordstrums and Nieman Mark-up. I swear, NO ONE can tell the difference.
If the DFL’s Tacky Tax goes into effect, I will be forced to join millions of Minnesotans who will surely be flocking to New York, New Jersey, Vermont, or Pennsylvania to avoid paying a crippling 90 cent tax on my next pair of $14.99 grandpa jeans.
What has happened to my party of the common people?
Note: This post also was featured in Politics in Minnesota’s Best of the Blogs.