Your restaurant check in downtown Minneapolis comes with a higher tax than in any other major city in the country, according to a report released on Tuesday.
The combined tax on meals downtown -- including state/city sales taxes and a downtown restaurant tax -- is 10.775 percent. That makes it No. 1 among the nation's 50 largest cities, according to the Tax Foundation, a D.C.-based think tank.
Minneapolis barely edged out Chicago, which came in second with a 10.75 percent combined tax. Virginia Beach, Va. was third at 10.5 percent.
The study could become ammunition in the Vikings stadium debate. The city taxes -- which were authorized by the state -- currently prop up the convention center, but local and state lawmakers are debating what to do with them when the facility's debt is paid off in 2020.
Rep. Greg Davids would like to eliminate the city taxes altogether. Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak has proposed extending them to pay for a Vikings stadium, convention center operations and Target Center improvements.
"That's one reason why the [mayor's] Vikings stadium plan is bad," said council member Gary Schiff. "It locks in what is already the highest sales taxes for meals in the country, and locks us in for the next 30 years."
Schiff said that instead of prolonging the taxes, the city should explore ways to lower the rates when convention center debt is paid off.
At a recent hearing at the Capitol, Republican lawmakers set their sites on Minneapolis' taxes.
