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State Representative John Ward
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4333
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TAX BILL STICKS IT TO THE MIDDLE CLASS
(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.
“This bill is just another example of the majority party’s misplaced priorities," said Rep. Ward. “Last night the House voted on constitutional amendment instead of working on job creation and now the majority has passed business tax cuts at the expense of middle-class Minnesotans. This bill sticks it to middle-class families around our state.”
This bill comes after taking $261 million from Minnesota homeowners, small businesses, renters and farmers by eliminating the Homestead Credit last year. The additional cuts to the Renters’ Credit means taxes will rise for 97 percent of senior and disabled renters, and all other renters, by permanently cutting an additional $70 million a year to pay for property tax relief to corporations.
The Renters’ Credit property tax refund program helps about 300,000 Minnesotan households – 86,900 of them are seniors or disabled renters and many of which live on fixed incomes and struggle to make ends meet.
Last year, the Renters’ Credit was slashed by $26 million and resulted in nearly 300,000 Minnesota households seeing an $87 cut on average per refund, and 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.
“For seniors living on a fixed income, college students paying tuition, and middle class families struggling to make ends meet this has a devastating impact,” added Rep. Ward. “More than 3,000 folks in Crow Wing County would see painful tax increases on top of property tax hike residents of our area have seen in the last year.”
On average, property taxes for cities in North-Central Minnesota have increased by 4.6 percent, while property taxes for towns in North-Central Minnesota have increased by 8.8 percent.
Finally, the bill creates a large and growing structural imbalance well into the future. When fully phased in, the proposal leaves a $1.6 billion hole per biennium, with no plan to pay for it.
“We need property tax relief; there’s no doubt about that,” said Rep. Ward. “But we need to start by reducing taxes on an already squeezed middle class and responsibly pay for it.”
DFLers have offered legislation to restore the Homestead Credit. The 44-year old Homestead Credit provided direct relief to 95 percent of homeowners. It was a targeted credit that showed up automatically on property tax statements. Republicans have refused to grant a hearing on the bill. Rep. Ward is signed on as a co-author.
“Raising taxes on middle-class Minnesotans while cutting taxes for a few corporations won’t help grow Minnesota’s economy,” said Ward. “The way to grow jobs and strengthen our economy is to strengthen the middle class, not stick it to them.”
News Items
- Local Projects Among $18 million in Small Cities Development Grants - (Posted: Jun 12 2013 9:46AM)
- Rep. Ward Encourages Non-Profits to Apply for MNsure Consumer Assistance Grants - (Posted: Jun 3 2013 1:39PM)
- Rep. Ward Appointed to Serve on Select Committee on Controlled Substances and Synthetic Drugs - (Posted: May 30 2013 9:58AM)
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