Bipartisan Bills to Help Minnesotans
Exempting forgiven Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan income from state taxes. Currently, Minnesota is the only state in the upper Midwest that has yet to exempt forgiven PPP loan payments. Without action, businesses could owe hundreds of thousands of dollars or more in state income taxes simply for using the PPP funds as intended by the federal government. The Senate passed a PPP tax relief bill earlier in the month with a veto-proof majority on a 55-12 vote.
We need to provide a quick fix to make sure these loans are exempted from state taxes too. Waiting to take action until the end of session is causing great uncertainty at a time when businesses are finally starting to get back to some semblance of normal.
Conforming Unemployment Insurance taxable income to Federal Limits: this proposal targets those who lost their jobs last year and now have big tax bills because of the extra Unemployment Insurance (UI) relief money they received. It would exclude the first $10,200 of unemployment pay from income tax in the year 2020 and assures that the $600 and $300 federal relief unemployment bonuses will not be taxed by Minnesota, just as it is not taxed at the Federal level.
Funding for schools to offer in-person summer school programming. I supported a bill that would utilize the expected funds coming in from the federal government to help defray cost of in-person summer school learning to help students catch up from a year of distance learning, along with funding for student mental health, as well as early learning scholarships. We all have seen that, despite the best efforts of everyone involved, distance learning has taken a toll on students. We need to help get them caught back up
Unfortunately, as mentioned above, these proposals though they have overwhelmingly bipartisan support, are being held up so they can be used as part of end of session negotiations. This is extremely unfortunate and I hope we can come back from our Easter/Passover recess and get these important bills passed immediately. We have a significant surplus and billions coming in from the federal government, let's get it done.
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