Democrat Tax Increases
Last week I detailed some of the proposed Democrat tax increases that are included in their Transportation omnibus bill.
On Tuesday, the Taxes Committee met to discuss the Housing, Education and Transportation omnibus bills. These bills are full of new tax increases and unfunded mandates for schools.
The bills we heard in Committee this week will increase taxes in the Metro area by $4.4 billion over the next four years.
-
Additional 0.25% sales tax in the 7-county Metro area for housing assistance; expected to raise $779 million;
-
Additional 0.75% sales tax in the 7-county Metro area for the Met Council to spend on transit and transportation; expected to raise $2.08 billion;
-
Increase the car registration fee; expected to raise $735 million;
-
30% increase in Motor Vehicle Sales Tax; expected to raise $227.13 million;
-
New 75-cent Delivery Fee on all meal/clothing/non-food items delivered to homes or businesses (if you pay sales tax on it and have it delivered, there will be an additional $0.75 delivery fee); expected to raise $616.3 million
These taxes are extremely regressive and will make it even more unaffordable to live, buy a car, and get deliveries in the Twin Cities and Minnesota. Minnesotans have been stretched to the max after two years of inflation price increases and these policies hit low-income taxpayers’ budgets the hardest.
If you add the $2.9 billion tax increase for the proposed Paid Family & Medical Leave payroll tax, the DFL is raising taxes by a whopping $7.3 billion in the next four years – all before we have even seen the DFL Tax bill.
As you will recall the Governor did propose some one-time rebate checks, but he also proposed increasing the capital gains rate from 9.85% to 13.85%. More tax increases may still be coming.
Many people have asked me why the DFL is proposing tax increases when families are hurting and when we have an $18 billion surplus. I cannot speak for them, but based on the testimony we heard in Committee this week, it seems that they want to grow government by more than 30% and they know we cannot afford that without tax increases.
“Only” about $5 billion of the $18 billion surplus in on-going money. That would not be enough to fund all of the new programs the DFL is proposing, so they have to raise taxes to “balance” the budget.
Minnesotans are not asking for all of these new mandates, spending, and taxes. They want government to fund basic functions and let families and seniors keep more of their own money to spend as they see fit.
As budget discussions continue at the Capitol, I will continue to fight for tax relief, including full elimination of the Social Security tax, and oppose new tax increases.
Here is a link to one of the many comments I made during Tax Committee this week.
|
