Dustin Gawrylow's flawed analysis of North Dakota's tax situation does not inspire confidence in his organization. A simple visit to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation Web site ( http://taxfoundation.org/research/topic/48.html ), which Gawrylow sources for his letter, reveals a very different picture from the one he paints. According to their research, North Dakota's state and local tax burden was among the "nation's lowest in 2007."
Gawrylow, and presumably the so-called Americans for Prosperity, the Washington- based group he represents, apparently got their numbers completely backward. North Dakota's state and local tax burden compared to the U.S. average is lower than that of 39 other states. In other words, North Dakotans get to keep a bigger share of their income than all but 11 states.
Moreover, in 2005, the most recent number the Tax Foundation cites, North Dakotans paid less personal income taxes than 40 other states. Our sales tax is "slightly below" the national median, and even our property tax, which is the tax most North Dakotans believe needs cutting, are "middle of the pack."
In fact, North Dakota's Tax Freedom Day, the date by which we've paid our total tax burden for the year, is April 12, 11 days before the national average, 15 days before Minnesota, and the same day as South Dakota, the state we are usually compared with.
I don't know if disinformation is a conscious strategy practiced by Americans for Prosperity, but it certainly doesn't make for an informed electorate. I encourage everyone to check the numbers for themselves, rather than take the word of this group.
