Local Chamber leader leads charge to lower tax rate

Claremont Chamber of Commerce President Dean Schuette was at Triton High School last month, watching as multiple scholarships were awarded to students who were soon graduating.
Giving back to the community is what the Chamber does, using funds coming from charitable gambling.
Last year, the Claremont Chamber was able to donate $262,000, while also paying $398,000 in taxes. If you think that seems skewed, Schuette would agree.
Despite billions of dollars being spent per year across the state, Schuette, who also serves on the Board of Directors for Allied Charities, said even more could be raised and donated locally in the community — if it wasn’t for the tax percentage paid.
In the meantime, one change coming from legislation will be increasing the value of a meat raffle prize for paddlewheels from $70 to $200, and to increase the maximum ticket cost from $2 to $5.
“It was a very good win, like I said …a very symbolic win, but a very tiny win for what we really need for charitable gaming,” Schuette said.
Meat raffles gain notoriety
For years, paddlewheels — a form of meat raffles used mainly by smaller organizations — have had smaller prize limits than the more common tip-board style of meat raffles.
With rising meat prices, and no changes to the limits for decades, the legislature stepped in to make the change itself.
It was an important step, Schuette said, but is just one issue that needs to be addressed when it comes to charitable gaming.
“We’ve been fighting for tax relief and for Improvements to our bottom line for quite a number
of years, and the state has not been very receptive to it to this point,” he said. “The meat raffles were just kind of a funny, quirky little thing that we were able to get bipartisan support around.”
The meat raffle legislation, though, has sparked a conversation about the importance of charitable gaming, hopefully with an eye toward reducing the tax rates, Schuette said.
“The biggest benefit of this whole passage of this bill was that it brought a lot of attention to charities in general, and the struggles we’re facing to try to get more dollars to our causes,” he said.
High Tax Rate
Schuette said the Claremont Chamber of Commerce, a small organization, did $8.5 million worth of gross volume last year.
Organizations are typically able to wind up with 10-15% of that amount, which is then divided up between other expenses — and taxes.
“We were able to donate $262,000 to local charities,” Schuette reiterated about last year’s donations. “Unfortunately, because of the high tax rate, we paid the state of Minnesota $398,000 last year.”
In 2012, the state decided it would fund a stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, using revenue from charitable gaming, specifically e-tabs.
E-tabs were introduced, Schuette said, “and the games were boring.”
Changes were quickly made to how the games operated, and between 2014 and 2022, the stadium was paid off.
Schuette said since the stadium is paid off — the original intent of the tax rate — it would make sense for the tax rate to then be lowered.
“We’re still paying the same tax rate, and that’s what Allied Charities and… charities combined across the state of Minnesota are fighting for: We should not be paying this high rate of tax to the state of Minnesota because the stadium is paid for, and that’s why you initiated this tax,” Schuette said. “And we want to have more of these dollars go to our bottom line, so we can help out the charities that we are designed to help.”
Schuette said they help veteran organizations, youth organizations, youth sports and more.
“We are very community (focused) and localized in the funding that we provide; we help out Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, FFA programs, 4-H programs,” he said. “We are meeting the need where the rubber meets the road, right at the grassroots level, and we need to have more of those dollars stay there.”
Instead of one of the highest tax rates — 33.5% — which is what Schuette says charities are generally taxed at for charitable gaming, the hope is for it to be greatly reduced so more money can stay in the local communities.
“We’re willing to pay some tax, but it should be greatly reduced from what it is, because the original reason for the taxation was to pay for a stadium — which is already paid for,” Schuette said.
“I don’t see the reason why we should have to keep paying the high rate of tax that we are.”