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State Representative Sarah Anderson
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-5511
For more information contact: Jodi Boyne 651-296-0640
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
BUDGET FORECAST SHOWS LITTLE CHANGE
From Sarah Anderson
State Representative, District 43A
To the editor,
Nearly every proposal made thus far at the Legislature has come with the caveat “wait until the February forecast” in case the projected budget surplus goes down and the funding disappears. This has been especially true for property tax relief. But last week’s news that the surplus remains relatively unchanged and above $2 billion is great news for those of us supporting property tax relief this year.
As you know, Minnesota offers a special property tax refund for homeowners who see their property taxes rise by more than 12 percent in one year. That is a helpful program, but many people have seen very high increases year after year that don’t meet that threshold.
To address that concern, I am chief-authoring a property tax relief bill that would help those homeowners. It would factor in your last two years worth of property tax increases to determine eligibility for a refund. So if your taxes went up 8 percent this year and 9 percent next year, you would become eligible for property tax relief. You would also still be eligible for a refund if your taxes rise more than 12 percent in any one year’s time.
The February forecast indicated that the economic outlook for the next few years remains good, but that we do need to be wary of slower growth beyond that, possibly as soon as 2010. We only need to look as far back as February 27, when the stock market took a very large, very sudden decline to see how quickly things can change. I think that reinforces the need for us to keep a good grip on the growth of government or risk a small downturn resulting in another large deficit. We owe that to the next generation of leaders.
Sincerely,
Sarah Anderson
District 43A, State Representative
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