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State Representative Joe Hoppe
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5066
For more information contact: Jodi Boyne 651-296-0640
HOUSE BRIEFS
WEEK THREE EMAIL UPDATE
Greetings!
When Governor Pawlenty released his budget proposal last month, many of us who campaigned on fiscal responsibility and putting taxpayers first were disappointed at the small amount of tax relief in his plan. With a $2.2 billion budget surplus, we feel that tax relief should be our number one priority. I want to share with you a statement we issued, as a group, expressing our call for real tax relief: “As Republicans, we applaud the governor for continuing to oppose tax increases, but we believe his budget proposal shortchanges Minnesota’s working families, especially considering the $2.2 billion budget surplus. After collecting more money than it needs, the State of Minnesota owes taxpayers serious income tax relief beyond what the governor proposed today. They also deserve sales tax relief, specifically from the ‘temporary’ sales tax increase of 1992. That increase was meant to bail the state out of a fiscal crisis and, clearly, it is no longer necessary. Let’s not turn this ‘temporary’ sales tax increase into another federal long-distance telephone excise tax. It’s 2007, we can stop balancing the 1992 budget.”
For those of you who may not know, the long-distance excise tax was imposed in 1898 to fund the Spanish-American War. In 2006, the US Congress decided that Spain is no longer a threat and repealed the 108-year-old tax. The good news is that Congress also decided to refund you part of the tax you paid over the last three years! Go to www.irs.gov to find out how much you can receive!
That aside, I believe this session should end with you receiving substantial tax relief, be it property taxes, income taxes, sales taxes or any combination. The governor is asking us for $3 billion in new spending, only one-tenth of which would be in the form of tax relief. We recommend at least one-third ($1 billion) in tax relief as the minimum starting amount. That would leave $2 billion for spending, an amount that I think most people find reasonable.
It’s important to keep in mind that it is only the start of February. There are still four months remaining in the 2007 legislative session. That’s four months to make sure Minnesotans get the tax relief they deserve. I’ll keep you informed as we go along.
Thank you.
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