Legislative Update from Rep. Jim Joy

Dear Friends,

Thank you to everyone who joined Senator Utke, Senator Green, and me last Saturday for my first town hall. It was great learning more about your concerns and priorities for this legislative session.

I also enjoyed meeting FFA students this week. I was impressed by these students’ knowledge of agriculture and policy, and I am grateful for their leadership in our community. Sen. Mark Johnson and I are pictured right getting to know some of the participants.

On Monday the new budget forecast was announced, and we learned that Minnesota still has a nearly $18 billion budget surplus. Our state government should not be flush with cash while families are struggling with higher prices for gas, grocery, and energy bills. Unless we make some serious changes, I know many in our community will move across the border to North Dakota. That’s why Republicans released our “Give It Back” plan to return the surplus to you. Here is what’s included in our plan:

• One-time rebate checks using $5 billion of the state’s surplus funds and $3.5 billion for a one-time child tax credit available for two years. The checks are estimated to be $1,250 for single filers, and $2,500 for joint filers.
• Full elimination of the tax on Social Security for a cost of $1.26 billion to provide 472,902 Minnesotans with an average tax reduction of $1,277.
• $3 billion in permanent tax relief by reducing both the first and second tier tax rates by 1% each to 4.35% and 5.8%, respectively. I authored HF 1515 earlier in session to provide a 1% tax cut to every income bracket.
• An adjustment of the homestead market value exclusion would give $35 million a year in relief.

It is my top priority that we make Minnesota an affordable state so our families and businesses can thrive. I am concerned, however, that there are other bills moving through the legislature that will force people and businesses in our community to travel across the border. Click my photo below to learn about some of the bills I'm most concerned about: