Under Vikings stadium plan, Saint Paul becomes most expensive city to shop

The Vikings and Ramsey County announced a partnership to build a new football stadium in Arden Hills this afternoon. The immediate impact will be a significantly higher cost for people to buy things in Ramsey County, particularly Saint Paul.

The county has agreed to come up with $350 million, paid for with a half-cent sales tax increase. That puts Saint Paul, in particular, as the most expensive city to buy things in in Minnesota because it already has a city sales tax in addition to the state sales tax and the transportation tax.

A person buying a new car in Saint Paul (there aren’t many car dealers left in Saint Paul) would pay a sales tax of about $2,031 on a $25,000 car. Someone in Scott County, by comparison, would pay about $1,718.