Hello from St. Paul,
This week, state economists told us that Minnesota’s record budget surplus continues to grow. The $9.3 billion surplus for the 2022-23 legislative biennium is up $1.5 billion from the $7.7 billion surplus projected in November.
Its clear state government is collecting too much from the taxpayers, and with the cost-of-living dramatically increasing for residents under the Biden/Walz economy, we need to provide Minnesotans with significant and permanent tax relief.
The first place to start is by approving legislation I’ve co-authored that provides complete Social Security income tax relief for all senior citizens. With a more than $9 billion surplus, there is no reason to continue the financial punishment of our senior citizens.
We also must prevent a local business owner tax increase of 14% or more from taking effect on March 15. A debt of more than $1 billion in Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund must be repaid, and unless the legislature agrees to use surplus funding to cover the cost, every local employer will be hit with tax increases to make up the funding difference.
Highway 65 has always been my top legislative priority, so the good news here is we also have the ability to pay for needed for road reconstruction with surplus funds. I have introduced 3 bills that would use cash to pay for projects along 99th, 109th, and 117th Avenues in Blaine if the Minnesota House wants to go in this direction.
As a reminder, it is not a necessity that lawmakers allocate every dollar of this state surplus before session ends. State government is fully funded, and all agency budgets have been set. This means we have the chance to provide historic levels of tax relief to Minnesotans, and I hopeful lawmakers do just that in the weeks ahead.
Have a good weekend,
Nolan