Across Northern Minnesota, families are opening their property tax estimates for next year and seeing increases that are hard to ignore. Counties, cities, and school districts are feeling the same pressure as they try to maintain essential services with fewer federal resources and higher local responsibilities. These bills do not spike on their own. The largest force driving today’s property tax surge comes from Washington, where the Big Beautiful Bill is shifting enormous costs onto Minnesota counties and, in turn, onto property owners.
The federal Reconciliation Act, known as H.R. 1, made sweeping changes to programs rural communities rely on. One of the most significant changes affects SNAP. For decades, the federal government covered half of SNAP’s costs and all of the benefits. H.R. 1 cut the federal share of administration to twenty-five percent and, for the first time, requires Minnesota to pay part of the benefits. It also added layers of paperwork counties must carry out without any funding to do it. That means the cost of running SNAP now falls directly on counties, and counties have only one option for covering those expenses. They must raise property taxes.
We are already seeing the consequences. Counties across Greater Minnesota are raising their levies far above recent years. These are the same rural counties already dealing with rising prices for food, fuel, health care, housing, and workforce shortages. Now they are being asked to pay for federal obligations because Congress chose to shift the burden downward. And it is worth noting that these cost shifts were passed in the same bill that delivered millions in tax breaks to billionaires living in some of the wealthiest cities in the country.
The Big Beautiful Bill also makes deep cuts to Medicaid that are the backbone of rural health care. Medicaid keeps critical access hospitals operating and nursing homes open. It helps cover long term care, disability services, mental health care, and essential services for children and seniors. When the federal government cuts Medicaid, counties and rural hospitals cannot opt out of caring for vulnerable residents. They must either fill the gap or make cuts that harm families and communities. That means property taxes rise at the exact moment rural counties are already stretched thin.
This problem looks very different in wealthier suburbs. A Medicaid or SNAP cut in Minnetonka or Edina can be absorbed more easily because those counties have larger tax bases, more providers, and fewer residents relying on these programs. But across the Northland, these cuts hit directly. A single nursing home shortfall becomes a regional crisis. A loss of federal health funding can threaten the stability of a local hospital. And new administrative burdens require counties to hire staff, upgrade systems, and manage heavier caseloads without any federal support for these mandates. When Washington pulls back, local taxpayers are the ones sent the bill.
Minnesota has not stood still in the face of these pressures. Over the past few sessions, we passed the largest middle-class tax relief package in decades. That included Social Security tax relief and a child tax credit to help families afford groceries and childcare. I was proud to author the bill that expanded local government aid and county program aid so local governments could rely on state dollars instead of local property taxes. We also passed a taconite homestead credit worth more than five hundred dollars per year for nearly every homeowner in the Taconite Relief Area. These efforts were designed to help middle-income families and stabilize the budgets of rural counties and cities.
But even historic state-level tax relief cannot fully counter decisions made in Washington. When Congress pays for tax cuts for billionaires and multinational corporations by shifting essential costs onto counties, property taxes rise no matter what Minnesota does.
As people study their latest property tax statements, it is important to understand why these increases are happening and who is responsible. Rural Minnesota deserves leaders who strengthen our communities, not ones who pass costs onto families living paycheck to paycheck. If we want real relief from rising property taxes, the first step is demanding that Washington stop shifting its responsibilities onto the people of Northern Minnesota. Our communities deserve better, and so do the families who call this region home.
