Our View: Slimmed-down tax hike still a burdensome tax hike

It could have been worse. Still, half a million dollars more for the Duluth Transit Authority and an approximately 8% increase in the city tax levy will be a lot to bear in 2023 for already overburdened Duluthians. And that’s precisely what the Duluth City Council is poised to pass.

Never mind that property owners are already facing valuation increases of hundreds and thousands of dollars that will translate into heftier property-tax bills.

Or that St. Louis County and the Duluth school district also are planning tax hikes, that record inflation this year has driven up the cost of everything from groceries to gas and medications to home heating, that a rate increase from Minnesota Power has kicked in, and that our economy is still recovering from the fiscal fallout of COVID-19.