Emergency Powers Anniversary
Last Saturday marked one year of living under Governor Walz's emergency powers. The one-size-fits-all mandates from the governor's office doesn't fit every community and is not working. We can do better and I spoke about that on the House Floor last week here.
201 legislators working alongside the governor can come up with better solutions than one man in St. Paul. Things are improving, now is the time to reassert the power of the legislature as a co-equal branch of government.
Taxes Fixes for Minnesotans
Local business owners and workers forced onto unemployment have faced plenty of financial difficulties this past year, and should not be forced to pay more in state taxes.
PPP Loan Fix Proposal
We tried to ease their fears this week, attempting to approve legislation that would exempt forgiven business owner Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan income from state taxes, as well as Unemployment Insurance tax elimination for COVID-19. Unfortunately, the House Democrats refused to allow either bill to receive a floor debate, as the entire House Majority unanimously opposed both measures.
These are common sense measures that have broad bipartisan support, unfortunately the reality is that House Democrat leadership wants to use these important issues as leverage for end of session negotiations with the Republican controlled Senate. They are putting petty games ahead of what Minnesotans need and is not what Minnesotans deserve and expect.
Impacted business owners who accepted PPP loans had to use those funds for business expenses, such as employee wages or rent, which is why Congress ultimately forgave the loans and made them free from federal taxation. The Minnesota Senate recently approved the state PPP Tax relief proposal on a bipartisan, and veto-proof vote of 55 -12.
Unemployment Insurance Fix Proposal
Employees who were laid off due to COVID-19 also would have received relief, as the proposed House legislation would have exempted $10,200 in Unemployment Insurance income, the same exempted by the federal government — making no other underlying changes to Minnesota unemployment insurance law.
House Democrats, with a giant surplus and money raining in from the federal government, voted against $269 million of tax relief to people exclusively who lost their jobs last year.
With a significant state surplus, there is no reason to force our struggling business owners and workers laid off during the last year to pay these unexpected tax burdens. We should be acting quickly in order to give them some peace of mind as the surplus is largely made up from one time revenue, so it makes sense to use it on one time tax relief.
|
