Recreation Worth Paying For

Hunting and fishing are an important part of Minnesota culture.  According to the DNR, around 2 million Minnesotans fish, and around 700,000 hunt, generating $3.6 billion in annual economic activity and supporting 55,000 jobs.  Unfortunately, troubling fiscal projections for the Minnesota Game and Fish Fund may soon hit the wallets of hunters and anglers alike (DNR reports).  According to State and Federal revenue analysis, the Fund is expected to go negative as early as July 2013.  Unfortunately for avid hunters and anglers, this will lead to two possible outcomes: one, the MN DNR will need to cut back on spending and programs, or two, license fees will need to increase.  As cuts in spending, of which have already begun to take place, will significantly affect the quantity and quality of hunting and fishing in MN, increases in user fees will likely result.

 The need for increased revenue is due to a number of reasons.  Primarily, license fees cannot be changed without legislative action, of which has not taken place since fee increases in 2001.  This 11-year stretch of time is the longest without fee increases in over 40 years.  Previous spending cuts and federal aid revenue have helped to offset fee increases up to this point.  Despite these measures, however, renewed budget forecasts pointing to less revenue, and the 20-day government shutdown last July, which cost the Fund an estimated $2.2 million, have lead to an urgent need for increased fees.  On a side note, a newly proposed bill may allow hunters and anglers to buy licenses in the event of a future state government shutdown, allowing the government to continue to collect revenue.

With fee increases likely to be enacted during the 2012 legislative session, there is likely to be an increased number of license options.  These options will allow less avid hunters and anglers to find the best-priced licenses, among numerous other hunting and fishing preferences (new proposals under Cost section). 

While measures to increase hunting and fishing fees have failed in previous years, the restructuring of license types, and the urgency for new revenue may push proposals for increased fees through.  Being user fees by design may also help.  Senator Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, said, "I think it has a much better chance this year because they're user fees, not taxes.  If you don't hunt and fish in the state of Minnesota you don't have to pay for it."

Education Tax Credits

Newspapers, Magazines, and blogs have been filled with articles and stories about the crippling reality of student loan debt on graduates. The national conversation about how to quell the exponentially increasing costs of a college education is one that has be continually in the spotlight, some have argued that student loan debt is the next financial bubble. As recently as this morning MPR was dedicating another hour on how to get an affordable college education. And for just as long as the debate has been going on, and even longer, government actors have been trying to devise some sort of relief for students. One of the more popular options has been education tax credits.

Education tax credits, such as the Hope Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit (see all options here), act as an offset to direct educational expenses that students incur. Credits are most often refundable, which means that some of the money could end up directly in the student’s pocket. Of course in this system the hope is that the extra money returned will be used to pay for other educational expenses. The question then remains if these tax credits do enough to change the reality of the large debt-load of college students?

The national average loan debt per student is currently around $25,000. If a student were to receive the The American Opportunity Credit for all four years of their undergraduate career, at its maximum level of $2,500 per year,  they would receive $10,000 in tax credits. This is a good amount against the national average debt loan, but the average does not tell the whole story. In Minnesota the average student loan debt is $29,000, the 4th highest in the nation. Which means the amount of the American Opportunity Credit becomes less substantial. And when you take into consideration the fact that some schools have an average student debt load about $40,000, the power of the tax credit dwindles further.

Education tax credits may not be as powerful a tool to combat student loan debt-load as they were originally thought to be, but they are still a tool that should be utilized.  As tuitions increase and the need for a college degree becomes even more essential, the conversation around student loan debt will continue. And as the conversation continues on, so should the use and expansion of education tax credits.