ST. PAUL, MN — House Republicans held a press conference Monday calling for significant tax cuts for Minnesota families using the state’s $1.5 billion budget surplus. Senate Republicans announced their “Get Your Billion Back” tax plan earlier this year, while House Democrats and Gov. Walz have remained mum on whether they will put forward a tax cut bill this session.
“Since November the state’s projected budget surplus has increased from $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion,” said Rep. Kristin Robbins, R-Maple Grove. “We have brought forth a package that will cut taxes for every Minnesotan, and targets additional relief for seniors, families with kids in childcare, homeowners, and college graduates with student loan debt. We are over-taxing Minnesotans and it's time to cut taxes and return the surplus to hard-working taxpayers!”
The House Republican proposal is comprised of five bills including:
- Eliminating state taxes on social security benefits. House Republicans successfully pushed to eliminate social security taxes for 250,000+ Minnesotans in 2017, this provision would finish that effort and eliminate social security taxes entirely.
- Childcare Tax Credit. Republicans are seeking to help families dealing with childcare expenses by increasing the income threshold for the dependent care credit from the current cap of $52,160 to $75,000 making thousands more families eligible for assistance paying childcare bills.
- Doubling the student loan tax credit. Rep. Greg Davids helped create the first-ever student loan tax credit of up to $500 for college graduates making payments on their loans. The House GOP proposal would double that credit to $1,000.
- Tax Fairness for Farmers and Main Street Businesses. Last session’s failure to enact full Section 179 conformity is causing massive unexpected tax bills for farmers and businesses. House Republicans are proposing to fully conform, and make it retroactive so farmers and businesses are not stuck with tax bills many simply cannot afford.
- Property Tax Relief. By putting an additional $50 million into school equalization aid, this would effectively result in a property tax cut for Minnesota homeowners by reducing reliance on local property tax revenue.
- Increasing the Personal Exemption. Every Minnesotan would benefit from an approximately $1200 increase to the personal exemption.
In total, Republicans are putting forward approximately $1 billion in tax relief. Rep. Greg Davids, R-Preston, Republican Lead on the House Taxes Division, challenged Democrats to come forward and tell Minnesotans how much they plan to set aside for tax cuts.
“With a $1.5 billion surplus, the question should not be whether to have a tax cut bill, it should be how much that tax cut bill will be,” Davids said. “House and Senate Republicans are united in our work to cut taxes for families, and put the surplus back in the hands of Minnesotans. We challenge Gov. Walz and House Democrats to be clear with Minnesotans how much tax relief they are willing to provide this session.”
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