Recent changes to the state's property tax rules are increasing taxes on apartment owners, and many of them may pass those costs on to their tenants. High demand and few vacancies aren't helping the situation for renters.

MPR cautions that property taxes can be a complex thing in Minnesota. Most increases will be in the single digits.

Gov. Dayton and lawmakers earlier this year replaced the homestead market value credit, which lowered many Minnesotans' property taxes, with a new program. But local governments say the new plan is raising property taxes significantly. And poor, rural Minnesotans are bearing the brunt of it.

But many homeowners will see their tax bills increase anyway because lawmakers cut the Market Value Homestead Credit as part of a debt deal to end the government shutdown earlier this summer.

A bill from the chairman of the House Taxes Committee would grant larger tax refunds to homeowners whose property tax bills are soaring. The bill would also slash taxes for all businesses. But the top House Democrat on property taxes says Republicans missed a chance to cut property taxes earlier this year.

Voters in North Dakoka -- flush with oil boom money and enjoying the lowest unemployment in the nation -- had the chance Tuesday to become the first state to cast off property taxes. But in the end, voters decided to keep the $800 million a year the taxes raise.

DFL lawmakers say higher property tax bills appearing in mailboxes show that Republicans were not honest when they claimed to have balanced the state's budget without raising taxes. But the current political clamor over taxes is likely just a warm-up for next year, which happens to be an election year.

Property taxes are up all over Minnesota this year. But while the Twin Cities area deals with hikes of a little over 3 percent, the increases approach 9 percent in the rest of the state. Some of the biggest increases are in Duluth and on the Iron Range.