A visitor to a Minnesota farm noticed a hog limping around on a makeshift leg fashioned from a broken broomstick. When he asked the farmer about it, the farmer replied:

'Let me tell you about that hog.

"I was out plowing the field one day when the tractor tipped over and pinned me under the wheel. Well, when I didn't show up for feeding time, that hog searched me out and brought help. But that's not all. One day, my little son Sven fell in the well. That hog pushed the bucket into the well with his snout, grabbed the rope in his teeth and pulled Sven to safety. But that's not all. One night, my whole family was sound asleep when the house caught fire. That hog rushed into the burning house, woke up my wife and me and helped us carry the kids outside."

"That's amazing," said the visitor. "But why does the hog have a broomstick for a leg?"

"Why," said the farmer, "when you have a hog that has done so much for you, you don't want to eat him all at once."

So it is with Minnesota tax policy: When legislators have productive Minnesotans creating wealth and willing to work for a better Minnesota, it's not smart to gobble them up all at once to pay for a better Minnesota.

Having taken a nibble out of taxpayers with a 2-cent-a-gallon gas tax increase in April, the state took another bite Tuesday when five of the seven metro-area counties — Anoka, Washington, Ramsey, Dakota, and Hennepin — imposed an additional one-quarter of 1 percent sales tax to pay for transit improvements. Come October, the state digests another 3 1/2-cent gas tax increase while sampling wheelage taxes and increased vehicle license fees a la taxpayer. For dessert, there's an additional 3 cents in gas tax increases on the table, all part of the $6.6 billion transportation tax increase passed over Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto.

Let's not forget that the Legislature got a taste of taxpayer during the 2007 session when it allowed Hennepin County to skip a public referendum and impose an appetizing 0.15 percent sales tax for the Twins stadium. And this fall, taxpayers could be looking at an additional 3/8ths of 1 percent sales tax increase to support outdoor recreation and the arts.

If you're keeping score, that's a total gas tax increase of 8 1/2 cents a gallon, and, if voters approve the outdoors and arts sales tax, five metro counties will each have sales taxes greater than 7 percent. All that stands between St. Paul and Minneapolis and an 8 percent sales tax is some wild hair like a Vikings stadium tax, the Legislature returning for the one-quarter-cent of proposed transit tax that got compromised away or some suddenly "necessary" mitigation on the increasingly controversial route of the Central Corridor through downtown St. Paul.

And let's remember that in the just-completed legislative session, the proposal was floated to expand the sales tax to clothing and selected services. While that proposal included reducing the sales tax percentage, it also significantly increased the number of items taxed. The impact would be that in the future, small tax increases, like one-quarter of 1 percent, would amount to significantly more out-of-pocket expense over which we would have less control if the state were taxing necessities.

No wonder our family budgets are a little limp.

For a state with an awful lot of people advocating for a more progressive tax structure, that's an awful lot of regressive taxation to put on the tax menu. Of course, there is a solution to that problem — raise income taxes so the evil wealthy are paying their "fair share." Raising taxes on the wealthy provides more state revenue, but it doesn't alleviate the tax burden on the rest of us. We'll still be paying the regressive 8 1/2-cent gas tax increase and sales taxes over 7 percent, in some cases close to 8 percent, but "fair share" makes a good sound bite and is in keeping with a progressive nibble, nibble, nibble approach to tax policy.

As an aside, gas and sales taxes are paid with after-income tax dollars; to pay an 8 1/2-cent gas tax (after you make over $31,860), you must earn over 9 cents in real income.

I finally understand what is meant by a "progressive" tax policy — you just keep progressively paying a greater share of your income for a progressively lower standard of living. As valuable as we taxpayers are, progressive-minded legislators don't want to eat us all at once.

Craig Westover is a contributing columnist to the Pioneer Press Opinion page and a senior policy fellow at the Minnesota Free Market Institute (mnfmi.org). His e-mail address is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

This commentary orgininally appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press Wednesday July 2, 2008.