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State Representative Tina Liebling
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-0573
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GOP TAX BILL ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF MISPLACED PRIORITIES
ST. PAUL — Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed HF 2337, the Omnibus Tax Bill. The bill provides millions in tax breaks for businesses at the expense of Minnesota renters making $55,000 or less a year — including thousands of seniors and disabled. The tax bill makes dramatic cuts to the Renters’ Credit – a property tax refund program that helps hundreds of thousands of middle-class renters. In fact, 99 percent of the property tax relief in the bill is directed to big business while homeowners get a meager 1 percent.
“It’s discouraging that Republicans in the Minnesota legislature continue to side with corporations at the expense of middle-class Minnesotans," said Rep. Liebling. “We should be reducing taxes for the middle class and asking corporations to pay their fair share. Instead, Republicans are doubling down on their wrong priorities and raising taxes on the middle class.”
Last year the Republican-led legislature took $261 million from Minnesota homeowners, small businesses, renters and farmers by eliminating the Homestead Credit. This bill would raise taxes for about 300,000 households—including 89,000 seniors and the disabled--by permanently cutting an additional $70 million a year from the Renters’ Credit to give property tax relief to corporations.
Last year, the Renters’ Credit was cut by $26 million, which resulted in an average cut of $87 per refund. Almost 7,300 households lost the refund entirely. Under this bill another 74,000 households would lose their entire property tax refund and those still receiving the credit would see a cut of $213 on average.
“This bill hurts seniors, the disabled, and Minnesotans living paycheck to paycheck,” continued Rep. Liebling. “Nearly 8,000 renters in Olmsted County would see tax hikes under this bill, on top of the 4.3 percent property tax hike they received last year. The squeeze on the middle class has to stop.”
Finally, the bill creates a large and growing structural imbalance well into the future. When fully implemented, the proposal leaves a $1.6 billion hole per biennium, with no plan to pay for it.
“The ‘Party of Fiscal Responsibility’ has once again shown that they are anything but,” said Rep. Liebling. “We need to get stabilize our budget, strengthen the middle class, and reduce property taxes. Blowing holes in future budgets while hurting the middle class is the wrong direction for Minnesota.”
DFLers have offered legislation to restore the Homestead Credit, which previously provided direct relief to 95 percent of homeowners. Republicans have refused to grant a hearing on the bill.
The bill includes two minor provisions requested by the City of Rochester.
“I support the Rochester proposals,” said Liebling. “But the negatives of this bill for my constituents far outweigh those small positives.”
News Items
- Rep. Tina Liebling Named Chair of House Health and Human Services Policy Committee - (Posted: 2012-11-16 00:00:00)
- Statement on DEED Bonding Project Announcement - (Posted: 2012-09-13 00:00:00)
- Local Legislators to Hold Town Hall Meeting - (Posted: 2012-07-19 00:00:00)
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