Dear Neighbor,
Minnesota’s budget surplus continues to rise and so does our opportunity to provide Minnesotans with significant tax relief at a time we are facing higher costs of living in the Biden-Walz economy.
Minnesota Management & Budget issued its February economic forecast for the state this week and it projects a $9.3 billion biennial surplus. That figure is up $1.5 billion from the already historic $7.7 billion surplus projected in November. The state government already is fully funded for the biennium.
This economic report reiterates that we should approve major tax relief for Minnesotans this session. The state has an overabundance of revenue at a time families and businesses are having their budgets choked out by rising prices. Let’s return these over-collected tax dollars to the people in the form of permanent, meaningful tax relief, starting with eliminating the state tax on Social Security and replenishing the depleted unemployment insurance to stop a tax increase hitting businesses this month
Gov. Walz has been using efforts to end the state tax Social Security tax as a tool of class warfare to divide our society and that’s unfortunate. These are not just millionaires who are taxed on Social Security, it’s many other people who have worked regular jobs and saved over the years. People simply should not be paying taxes on Social Security on the way in, AND on the way out.
This unemployment insurance tax increase is a major issue where, unfortunately, House Democrats continue to delay. The March 15 deadline to enact legislation that fixes this problem is rapidly approaching, causing unnecessary uncertainty for our already strained businesses.
The Senate already addressed this issue a couple of weeks ago by overwhelmingly passing a UI bill on a bipartisan vote. Gov. Walz, House Republicans, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats all support full UI relief. House Democrats unfortunately continue to play politics with this issue at the expense of our businesses. The majority’s lack of urgency is bad enough and even the bill they have written falls short and would result in a six-year tax increase on businesses.
A recent newspaper article indicates the majority’s failure to act could cost businesses tens of thousands of dollars in tax increases this year. This ultimately would only raise prices on goods and services even higher at a time we already are seeing costs soaring at 40-year highs in the Biden-Walz economy.
Sincerely,
Matt