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Technical tax changes

Published (5/8/2009)
By Sonja Hegman
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A tax bill not seen as controversial, received about an hour and half of debate on the House floor on May 7.

Passing 120-11 and sponsored by Rep. Ann Lenczewski (DFL-Bloomington), HF885 would make technical tax law changes, as recommended by the Department of Revenue. Some of these changes include extending the time for filing estate tax returns; and expanding the exclusion of prepared food and soft drinks from the government and nonprofit sales tax exemptions to alcoholic beverages. A companion, SF681, sponsored by Sen. Tom Bakk (DFL-Cook), awaits Senate floor action.

Nine of the 10 amendments offered were not adopted, ranging from including horses as livestock in the tax code to offering an education credit.

One amendment offered successfully by Rep. Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove) would prevent the governor from appointing a revenue commissioner who has been convicted of a criminal violation of a federal or state tax or revenue law, who has failed to file a required original individual income tax return within one year of its due date, or who has unpaid federal, state, or local taxes for a prior taxable year when the appointment is announced to the public. This same amendment was adopted to the House’s federal tax conformity bill earlier in the session, but was deleted during a conference committee.

The House took up HF885 again on the floor because of changes made to the bill by the Senate. The Senate passed a delete-all amendment for HF885 using the language of SF681 devoid of numbers. In a 117-0 vote, the House did not concur on the change and a conference committee was appointed.

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