Hello from the State Capitol,
Now that lawmakers have returned from the Easter/Passover break we have begun to dig in on fiscal issues, particularly supplemental budget issues. With a projected budget surplus, we will put out plans on how to deal with this financial windfall and try to come to an agreement before session ends. In addition, the new tax relief law passed by Congress means Minnesota has to conform or make a number of changes in order to match our state’s future income tax filing information with that of the federal government.
We will likely put out their plans in the coming days, while Governor Dayton has already made his thoughts public. I’m in the process of reviewing his proposal and have founds some areas of agreement and disagreement.
On the plus side when it comes to taxes, the Governor proposes to transition Minnesota to using Federal Adjustable Gross Income (FAGI) as the starting place in determining Minnesota Taxable Income. This move is crucial because it would maintain existing tax benefits for Minnesotans available under current law, preserving deductions for charitable contributions, unreimbursed employee expenses, and casualty losses. To me, that’s great news and certainly a position I’ll support.
Where we will disagree is with his proposed $1.4 billion in tax and fee increases, including the provider’s tax (sick tax). We have this $329 million surplus doe to the success of Minnesota’s bipartisan 2017 tax relief bill. A surplus is evidence that Minnesotans are already paying too much to government, so I believe raising taxes is the wrong approach.
I’ll be sure to pass along more details as they are made available.
In other news, I had a great time visiting Achieve Services in Blaine recently. Achieve Services provides a day training and habilitation program for adults with disabilities, and has been doing so since 1964. What a tremendous service they provide for Anoka County residents. It was a pleasure to meet with participants and staff to learn more about this wonderful service.
Have a great weekend,
Nolan