The State of Minnesota received some welcome news recently, as state economists noted that our latest budget forecast projects that incoming revenue is outpacing expected expenses by a record amount.
For the current budget cycle, Minnesota now projects a $7.746 billion surplus. This is an astronomical, historic total. The last record surplus was $4.05 billion.
This record-breaking surplus is a sign that state government clearly does not need any more of your money, and we should be looking for ways to get this surplus back in the hands of those who are struggling.
Everyone is now dealing with higher costs across the board, whether its gasoline, energy, food, and most everything else. And while some businesses are doing great, others store owners have struggled to recover from the pandemic either through lowered sales or the recruitment of employees.
So, what do we do, with this nearly $8 billion dollar surplus?
This surplus comes at an opportune time for rebuilding Highway 65. We have acquired all the funds needed to start work on the project. Now it is just a matter of how much cash we can get for construction. The more money there is, the more we can do for Highway 65. The recently passed bipartisan federal infrastructure bill also provides billions more to Minnesota. I will fight to secure as much money as possible, from that legislation, for Highway 65. We are in better shape to rebuild than we ever have been.
This money also finally allows us to pursue complete Social Security income tax relief for all senior citizens. I have co-authored legislation for this purpose, and in my first term we passed Social Security income tax relief for 284,000 seniors, and of those, 72,000 seniors no longer paid any state income tax on their Social Security benefits. With this mammoth surplus in hand, we have enough money to finish the job – it is long overdue.
Lastly, we should be repaying the state’s unemployment insurance $1.13 billion trust fund debt that is owed to the federal government. Without action, state business owners will be paying higher payroll taxes – potentially 15% - to make up the difference. That will increase prices across the board at a time when inflation is already skyrocketing.
All that being said, there is no reason to spend this entire surplus in the 2022 session. Since we already set the biennial budget last session, we need to maintain a substantial portion of it for when we craft the new biennial budget in 2023. This will allow us to put more of this record-breaking surplus in the hands of Minnesotans.
The 2022 session will begin in late January. Expect talks of how to utilize his record-breaking surplus to dominate the headlines.