The Minnesota Senate has gotten truly ambitious by pushing a plan to reform the sales tax, broadening the base and reducing the overall sales tax rate. By doing so they can appear to be lowering taxes, while in fact increasing the state’s tax receipts.

With less than three weeks left in the 2013 session, time is running out for the Minnesota state Legislature and the governor to reach deals on many critical pieces of legislation, including the budget.

It was widely expected that Gov. Mark Dayton would govern as a liberal. It is somewhat surprising that he finds himself besieged by a DFL-dominated state House and Senate that each is pushing budget plans more liberal than the governor says he will accept.

After a steady flow of budget bills on the House floor that appropriate general fund money for the 2014-2015 budget period, the House on Wednesday night passed the tax bill intended to pay for the spending.

With just three weeks before the scheduled adjournment of the 2013 legislative session, the intent of the DFL lawmakers’ actions is clear. They are doing everything imaginable in their power to drive entrepreneurs and job creators out of Minnesota.

After a steady flow of budget bills on the House floor that appropriate general fund money for the 2014-2015 budget period, the House on Wednesday night passed its tax bill that pays for the spending. The bill passed 69-64 with four members of the DFL majority voting against it.

FL Sen. Ann Rest offered an amendment to the omnibus Senate tax bill on Wednesday that would pay cash for the $203 million remaining on repairs to the more than 100-year-old building, as well as allow the state to enter a lease-to-purchase agreement to construct a new office building near the Capitol. Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk said he didn't want to see the project, a priority for all four legilsative caucuses and Gov. Mark Dayton, held hostage in end-of-session negotiations.

The House DFL omnibus tax bill, unveiled at a Tax Day Capitol press conference on Monday, would raise the new revenues via a permanent increase in the state's income tax rate for top earners, a temporary income tax surcharge, reducing some corporate loopholes and an increase in taxes on cigarettes and alcohol.

A short tour of four potential scenarios as the Dayton administration and the DFL Legislature weigh the next Minnesota budget.

Myron Frans has been making the pitch for about two years now. The Minneapolis tax attorney turned revenue commissioner started his tenure in Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration out on the road, carrying with him a pair of stools to demonstrate the need for comprehensive changes to the state’s tax code.