Legislative Update
During this historically unproductive legislative session, House Democrats have left a lot of important issues undone. This week, House Republicans have tried to shine a spotlight on those issues by bringing motions on the House Floor to bring them up for debate and passage, to give Minnesotans some certainty and relief after the most difficult year many have ever had.
On Monday during our House session, House Republicans brought a motion to exempt forgiven PPP loan income from state taxes. Unfortunately, voting along party lines, Democrats refused to bring the bill up for debate, even though many of them have expressed support for the bill in the past. I have heard from many of our local businesses concerned about the massive unanticipated tax bill this will cause them.
During Thursday’s House floor session, we made motions to bring up a bill to exempt the first 10,200 of unemployment payments from taxes, which is in line with what the federal government has passed, as well as a bill that would provide for summer school expenses as our students and teachers combat the learning loss from the last year of virtual learning. The summer school bill would increase school choice, provide funding for student mental health, and ensure students are back in schools so they can recoup some of the learning that was lost over the last year.
Thursday, the Governor released his revised budget in light of our projected $1.6 billion budget surplus. In his last budget, when we had a projected deficit, he had planned to raise taxes on Minnesotans and their businesses by over a billion dollars. In this new budget, he includes nearly $700 million in tax increases even though with our surplus and the additional money coming from the federal government, we will have over $4 billion to spend. It is nonsensical to push for tax hikes when the state already has enough money to fund a responsible budget. I will continue fighting for a good budget that works for Minnesota families and businesses.
I have heard from local businesses that have not received any relief yet from the state or federal government. I am glad to see that so many have opened back up, but I will continue to work hard to find relief for our business folks and those who have been unemployed this year.
Finally, I want to remind everyone that the IRS announced this week that Tax Day for individuals has been extended to May 17th, which coincidentally is also the last day of the 2021 legislative session.
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