Dear Neighbors,
Over the weekend, the House released its plan to conform with changes to the federal tax code. Our plan seeks to simplify the tax code and reduces taxes for 2.1 million Minnesotans.
As I’ve detailed numerous times, federal tax conformity is perhaps the single biggest issue facing the Legislature this year and I am proud of the plan the House has put forth.
Here are some details from our plan:
- Helping middle-class Minnesotans keep more of what they earn by cutting the second tier income tax rate from 7.05% to 6.75% by tax year 2020. This would mark the first income tax rate reduction in Minnesota since 2000.
- Lowering taxes for people at all income levels by increasing the standard deduction from $13,000 to $14,000.
- Protecting families by preserving a state personal and dependent exemption of $4,150.
- Encouraging affordable homeownership by allowing a state-itemized deduction of up to $30,000 in property taxes.
- Supporting hometown businesses and farmers by reinvesting extra revenue from corporate tax changes into Section 179 conformity and overall rate reductions.
Our second-tier income tax rate reduction is the first of its kind in nearly 20 years.
Governor Dayton’s plan stands in stark contrast to ours. In his plan, he seeks to raise taxes on Minnesotans of all income levels.
In fact, analysis by his own Department of Revenue found that Minnesotans in every income bracket would be looking at a tax increase from his proposal. Households making less than $32,000 would be hit hardest making Minnesota’s overall tax code more regressive.
Additionally, he has proposed reinstating more than $1 billion in health care tax increases, repealing tax reductions enacted last session, and numerous changes reacting to tax changes at the federal level.
Stay tuned on this as this is something that needs to happen this year to prevent a whole host of issues during next year’s tax filing season.
House Approves Education Omnibus Bill
On Thursday, the House approved its supplemental omnibus education bill. This legislation looks to build on the successes of last year’s education bill that saw historic investments and policy reforms to ensure that every child in Minnesota has access to a world-class education.
A huge focus of this year’s supplemental bill was school safety and I was proud to have authored a provision included as a part of this package. My provision improves school-linked mental health programming to ensure that more students have access to mental health care.
Other steps we are taking to improve safety at our schools include additional funding for school-resource officers, grants for security audits, and school-based threat assessment teams.
Our approach is multifaceted and gives schools the flexibility to tailor improvements to their own unique needs and circumstances.
Education funding is one of the largest areas of our state’s budget, that’s why other initiatives in our bill look to improve transparency and ensure that those dollars are being properly allocated and reaching the classroom in an effective way. We want to make sure that the state is advancing policies that improve academic outcomes.
Again, this is a great bill and I am proud to support it.
Staying Connected
I met with representatives from Park Region Telephone, Runestone Electric, Gardonville Cooperative, and 702 Communications this week to talk about rural broadband topics.?
I met with area High School students this week to discuss firearms, school security, violent video games, family structure, mental health and other issues.?
Finally, I was on Your Legislators last night. If you'd like to watch it, please visit this link.
That’s all for this week’s update. Please be sure to stay in touch as we move into the final weeks of session. As always, I can be reached by phone at either 651-296-4929 or 701-361-1909. I can also be reached via email atrep.jeff.backer@house.mn.
Have a great weekend,
Jeff