St. Paul, Minnesota — Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives passed HF 1777, a bill that cuts taxes for middle-class Minnesotans and repeals three businesses-to-business taxes. State Representative Mary Sawatzky (DFL – Willmar) voted in favor of the legislation.
“Nearly one million Minnesotans would receive a tax cut under this bill,” said Rep. Sawatzky. “With a $1.23 billion budget surplus and tax season in full swing, we should move quickly to enact these middle-class tax cuts. We made a lot of progress last year to balance our budget, and invest in education, job creation and real property tax relief for homeowners. The way to continue building on our progress is to expand middle-class economic opportunity.”
Whenever Congress changes federal tax law, the Legislature must decide whether to conform to the changes at the state level or not. Last session the House included federal tax conformity for tax year 2013 and beyond. However, this did not end up in the final budget signed into law. The legislation passed by the House Tax Committee would provide $200 million in middle class tax cuts through permanent federal tax conformity.
Those tax cuts include:
(Source: Non-partisan House Research)
The House Tax bill also would repeal three business-to-business taxes (warehousing and storage services, commercial equipment repair (including farm machinery) and telecommunications equipment) that were passed as part of the 2013 budget. Last year those taxes were part of a Senate package that paid for an upfront capital sales exemption for businesses and provided property tax relief by eliminating sales taxes for cities and counties. Rep. Sawatzky was a co-author of legislation repealing these taxes.
“Thanks to our growing economy and budget reserves, we can repeal these business-to-business taxes,” said Rep. Sawatzky. “There is strong bipartisan support to repeal these taxes and pass conformity, and it’s my hope that by working together we can get it done quickly.”
Rep. Sawatzky encourages constituents to contact her with any questions, comments, concerns, or ideas. Rep. Sawatzky can be reached by phone at 651-296-6206 or by email at rep.mary.sawatzky@house.mn. Constituents can also visit Rep. Sawatzky’s AreaVoices blog, legislative page and sign up for email updates.