We’re a little more than a week into the 2014 session, but it seems like we’ve been at work a lot longer. That’s good news for Minnesotans. It means the people’s business is being done.
The big topic of the first several days has been taxes. We started the session with an agenda of offering middle-class tax relief and repealing some of the business-to-business taxes passed last year. We’ve wasted no time, and the House Tax Committee, of which I am a member, passed a $500 tax cut package last week. The full House may vote on this bill on Thursday.
The bill will provide $200 million in middle-class tax cuts to hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans through federal tax conformity. The “Marriage Penalty Fix” will provide $111 million for middle-income married families by increasing standard deductions for married filers. More than 650,000 families – a vast majority of them earning less than $75,000 – will see an average tax decrease of $120.
There is $36 million in the bill for low-income working families by increasing the phase-out range for Working Family Credit to match the Earned Income Tax Credit. More than 50,000 working families will see an average savings of $300.
The bill also provides:
· $7.2 million for homeowners who refinanced or had a short sale.
· $3.9 million for new homeowners.
· $26.4 million for students and parents paying for college and students paying off loans.
· $1.8 million for Minnesota families with dependents.
· $400,000 for adopting families.
· $1.1 million for 60,000 teachers.
· $6.7 million for businesses by making filing taxes simpler.
· $4 million for charitable contributions.
The bill also repeals three business-to-business taxes that were passed as part of the 2013 budget – taxes on warehousing and storage services, commercial equipment repair (including farm machinery) and telecommunications equipment.
A promise kept
For too many years, our middle class bore the brunt of St. Paul’s fiscal irresponsibility.
Since 2002, property taxes statewide had gone up 86 percent, due in large part to repeated cuts in aid to local governments and in direct property tax refunds for Minnesotans. In 2011, Republicans eliminated the Homestead Tax Credit, increasing statewide property taxes by a whopping $365 million, or 4.5 percent. There was an 8 percent increase in Greater Minnesota.
I pledged that, as a legislator, I would make property tax relief a top priority. I can report to you that the work the DFL-led legislature accomplished in 2013 has paid off.
Reports by non-partisan House Research and the Minnesota Department of Revenue each show that property taxes will decrease next year for the first time in more than a decade.
Here are some of the relevant facts included in the reports:
· Homeowners will see the most significant decrease. Overall, homeowners will see a $161 million decrease in property taxes in 2014, a 4.9% decrease from 2013.
· Small businesses will see a net property tax decrease in 2014 of 2.1%.
· Renters will see a net decrease in property taxes of 0.1%.
· Non-homestead ag-land will see a property tax increase of 12%. But, notably, market value for ag-land increased by even more – 24%.
· Direct property tax refunds are expected to increase by $133 million in 2014. Nearly 500,000 homeowners and renters will see increased refunds.
· Property taxes are going down despite a significant number of voter-approved education levies. Eighty-six percent of the operating school levy referenda passed in 2013, or 51 of 59 school districts. That is the highest approval rate recorded by the Minnesota School Board Association. The total increase in school levies for 2014 was $119 million.
More than 300,000 homeowners will see a property tax refund increase. More than 100,000 additional homeowners will be eligible for a refund. And the average Minnesotan will see their refund increase by $212.
I encourage you to see if you are eligible for the Homestead Credit Refund or Renter’s Credit. Some of you who may not have been eligible in the past may be eligible this year due to expanded refunds and credits. You can find more information on eligibility and how file for your property tax refund at the Department of Revenue website.
Hermantown travesty
Outraged is not a strong enough word to describe how I felt when I heard the story about the 89-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted by a caregiver at Edgewood Vista in Hermantown. The initial crime is horrendous enough, but the details defy credulity. Administrators at the assisted care facility allegedly attempted to blame the woman’s sexual assault claim on her dementia. And apparently state investigators were initially willing to go along with the administrators’ explanation.
The way this poor woman was treated by the people entrusted to care for her is nothing short of criminal. According to the Star Tribune, the day after the rape – after she told people at Edgewood Vista – she was shipped off to St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth and placed in a cold room in a locked psychiatric ward for three days.
Since then, her assailant has confessed and been sentenced for his crime. But that shouldn’t put an end to our questioning of authorities in this matter.
I am calling on the Department of Health to reopen an investigation into the circumstances of this crime and its aftermath. Its two previous investigations were not adequate. I have specific questions I would like answered.
· Was the behavior and comments by several of Edgewood Vista’s employees appropriate in the days after they learned of and received the sexual assault complaint from authorities?
· Did investigators turn up conclusive evidence that Edgewood Vista management mishandled the case?
· Did investigators uncover evidence that the managing staff at Edgewood Vista Hermantown and its actions led to either inappropriate or delayed care of the victim?
· Is there any evidence that the investigation completed by the Minnesota Department of Health was either improper or inconclusive?
As I stated in my letter to Health Commissioner Ed Ehlinger, assault of any human being is disturbing, but the assault of a vulnerable adult is a particularly distressing event. The public deserves answers to ensure that due diligence was and will be followed in any future cases.
Quick action on an urgent problem
We passed a bill in the first week of the session that makes an emergency $20 million deposit into the state’s Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). The combination of the unusually cold winter and a loss of 40 percent of state’s pipeline capacity caused the demand for home heating fuel to spike. Suppliers began to ration deliveries, and prices skyrocketed; propane that normally sold for $1.70 a gallon in the heating season was going for more than $6 a gallon.
This legislation means that help is still available for those who need it. If the entire amount isn’t used by June 30, 2014, the unspent funds would return to the General Fund.