Dear Neighbor,
My apologies for not getting this update out at my usual time on Friday. The past several days have been extremely busy what with negotiating with the Senate and finding agreement between the House and Senate on our omnibus budget bills as we work toward setting a new two year budget for the period beginning July 1.
In general, we have prioritized tax relief, transportation, and education in our budget targets. This includes $1.15 billion in tax relief, $372 million in new, ongoing funding for our road and bridge infrastructure, and $1.14 billion in overall increased spending for K-12 schools compared to the previous budget.
The tax bill includes the House’s top priorities, including:
- $235.9 million reduction in how Social Security income is taxed.
- a first-in-the nation student loan tax credit;
- expanded tax credits for parents of public, private and home school students
- conformity with the federal estate tax exemption
- expansion of the child and dependent care credit; and
- changes to the state general levy, (applies to commercial industrial and seasonal properties) excluding the first $150,000 in market value for C/I properties and eliminating the inflator for both C/I and cabin properties beginning in pay 2018.
Collectively, our budget targets reflect the priorities of Minnesota families and demonstrate that we can invest in key priorities such as K-12 education, tax relief and roads and bridges while still ensuring a responsibly-sized state budget.
Now it is vital for Gov. Mark Dayton and his agency commissioners to work with legislative leaders to reach joint agreement on budget targets. Legislative leaders agreed to and met the governor’s requests to pass budget bills by March 31 and establish legislative targets by Friday, April 28.
That good-faith effort has put us three weeks ahead of the typical legislative schedule in the hopes of ensuring a smooth and orderly end to the legislative session. Now it is his time to reciprocate so we can capitalize on the situation we have put ourselves in.
Look for more specifics of various budget components as things develop in St. Paul.
Sincerely,
Jim