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State Representative Joe Mullery
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4262
For more information contact: Matt Swenson 651-297-8406
NEWS COLUMN
Changing the Property Tax to Make it Fair
I serve on both the Tax Committee and the Property Tax Relief Committee. Our DFL members on those committees decided the most important policy change we could make was to make the property tax fairer.
Under the present system, there are grossly unfair results in the effects of the state's system of property tax, property tax refund, and property tax deduction on income tax. It has regressive consequences.
For instance, if person A makes three times as much as person B but pays the same amount in property tax, person A gets far more money back from the state. That's the reverse of a progressive tax policy.
Due to the fact that Governor Pawlenty won't allow any additional revenue to be raised, we had to shift the sources of the present tax so wealthy individuals didn't pay so much less than a proportional amount. The people who won't do as well under our proposal are those who have high incomes and low property tax. Preliminary estimates show less than 20% of people will be worse-off under our proposal and most will benefit.
If you want to determine how you would fare under our proposal, go to http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/issinfo/hmvccalc5a.xls. You will need Microsoft Excel or a similar application.
We also propose to close the tax loophole for foreign operating corporation royalty income, and use this extra money to increase Local Government Aid, which should decrease the amount cities tax homeowners.
If your property taxes are more than 2% of your income, and your income is under $200,000, you'll be eligible for the new Homestead Credit State Refund.
News Items
- Reminder: Primary - August 14; Some Voting Locations May Have Changed - (Posted: 2012-07-08 00:00:00)
- Passing of Dr. John Williams - (Posted: 2012-07-09 00:00:00)
- Rep. Mullery: 2012 Legislative Report - (Posted: 2012-07-10 00:00:00)
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