Today, May 4, 2015, the Minnesota Senate will be debating this year’s tax bill. We’ve seen the tax giveaways and draconian hurts the House GOP omnibus tax bill delivers to everyday Minnesotans like you and me.

Here’s what the Senate DFL’s bill proposes to do:

• This bill helps families paying early childhood and school-related expenses. The K-12 education credit expansion will reach 16,800 new families and save the average taxpayer $285 a year. (Article 1) In addition, money paid for Head Start or public pre-K programs is now eligible for the credit, helping working families better afford quality early childhood education.
• This bill helps the state’s unemployed veterans. Minnesota has about 369,000 veterans and, since 2001, one of the highest veteran unemployment rates – particularly for those serving since 9/11. The Senate is doing something about that, providing a $2,500 Veterans Hiring Jobs Credit to businesses that hire unemployed veterans. (Article 1)
• This bill addresses the statewide workforce housing crisis by helping cities provide affordable housing so Greater Minnesota businesses can attract and retain the highly skilled workers they need.

• The Senate is making it easier for families to save for college. Thirty-three other states have tax incentives to help families save for college. Minnesota’s incentive disappeared during times of budget deficit, but this bill reinvests in that priority. It establishes up to a $500 credit for 529 investments for families earning up to $160,000 a year. (Article 1)
• Every type of property will see property tax relief from this bill, including farmers, businesses, homeowners and cabin owners.
  • Homeowners will see an average 2.2% property tax decrease; agricultural homesteads will see an average 2.1% decrease; cabin owners will see an average 4.3% decrease; the first tier of commercial/industrial properties (smaller businesses) see an average 2.8% cut. Apartments see about a 2.4% decrease, which should help hold down rent.
  • The statewide business property tax is reduced by $69 million.
  • Farmers and homeowners get additional relief through an expansion of the current targeting refund and a new agricultural targeting property tax refund that helps properties whose taxes increase drastically over the course of a year.
  • State aids to cities, counties and townships are increased to help them continue taking pressure off local property taxes and improve local services.
• This budget is responsible. We’ve all seen what happens when every last penny of a budget surplus is spent: economic changes and inflation quickly turn healthy budgets into unbalanced deficits. This bill provides broad property tax relief, carefully targets income and sales tax relief, and resolves past accounting shifts that add risk to the state budget. Senate Democrats have spent two years successfully getting Minnesota off the budget roller coaster – this bill makes sure we
  stay off. 

Republicans are intent on spending every dime of this surplus, accusing us of not providing enough tax relief in this bill. As a reminder, the Senate DFL spent about $540 million on tax relief last year, $20 million on federal conformity earlier this session, and is proposing another $460 million of responsible investments in this bill. That’s more than $1 billion of tax relief over two years – without destroying the responsible state budget we’ve built.

2015 Senate DFL tax priorities · college savings · early childhood education · property tax relief · unemployed veterans · workforce housing crisis

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Daily Brief: Monday, May 4th, 2015 >>