ST. PAUL – With Minnesota’s state budget surplus reaching another historic – and staggering – amount, State Representative Bjorn Olson (R-Fairmont) said its time to enact permanent tax relief for families who are struggling with rising costs in the Biden/Walz economy.
“Anyone who has visited the grocery store and gas station or has paid their electric and heating bills recently has been negatively impacted by skyrocketing prices,” Olson said. “Minnesotans must be able to keep more of their paychecks, and lawmakers can make that happen by approving significant and permanent tax relief policies.
On February 28, Minnesota’s economic experts found a budget surplus improvement of $1.507 billion for the current cycle. The projected surplus now stands at $9.253 billion for Fiscal Year 2022-23.
Olson said there are numerous ways to deliver tax relief to Minnesotans who need it.
“Finally eliminating the state income tax from Social Security benefits would be great news for the hundreds of thousands of Minnesota senior citizens that are being nonsensically taxed on their limited incomes,” Olson said. “Local business owners also need the state to replenish its unemployment trust fund. If we don’t allocate surplus funds for this purpose, all of them will be leveled with a tax increase of 15% or more in order to make up the difference.”
“With state government budgets set and fully funded, and with Minnesota still seeing a $9 billion surplus, it is clear we need to give our taxpayers a financial break and enact significant tax release proposals before the year ends,” Olson concluded.