Bakk: Sales tax expansion still in the mix

The top Democrat in the Minnesota Senate says he thinks the state sales tax can still be expanded to some business transactions.

DFL Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk of Cook didn't specify which services, but he said Monday there are some that deserve consideration. Bakk stressed that just because Gov. Mark Dayton has taken sales taxes off the table doesn't mean the Senate will do the same.

"The thing that hasn't changed is we are moving more towards a service-oriented economy," Bakk said. "If we're going to create a stable revenue system moving forward, we're going to have to unfortunately have some additional reliance on the sales tax. You see more and more states considering that this year."

Bakk also said there will be some discussion about whether the governor's income tax proposal on the wealthiest 2 percent is sufficient, or if a larger percentage should pay more. Dayton is expected to release a revised budget proposal later this week.