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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Bob Dettmer (R)

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Legislative News from Rep. Bob Dettmer

Thursday, February 10, 2022

Hello from the State Capitol,

 

Local business owners will soon be facing a senseless tax increase unless the Minnesota House Democrat majority does something about it.

 

On March 15, business owners will face a 15% or more payroll tax hike. This is due to record-setting unemployment claims that depleted Minnesota's Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund at the start of the pandemic. The federal government provided more than $1 billion to make up for the shortfall. Now, to make up for that loss, payroll tax rates are set to increase.

 

Raising anyone’s taxes right now is nonsensical when you consider Minnesota not only has more than $1 billion in federal COVID relief funds waiting to be spent, but also a nearly $8 billion budget surplus. With this kind of money laying around we can fix this problem easily, but it appears House Democrats would rather play games with the issue than solve it.

 

In the Minnesota House Workforce and Business Development Policy and Finance Committee, a bill was heard recently that would allocate more than $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding to replenish the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund. The Minnesota Senate will soon approve a similar proposal. But Minnesota House Democratic leadership wants the UI Trust fund bill to be packaged with other DFL priorities, which will obviously slow progress to a stop.

 

It sickens me that House DFL leadership would financially punish our local store owners to further their political agenda. If this proposal came forward on its own, it would likely receive unanimous support. We’re only a month away from this tax increase going into effect and people need our help, not political gamesmanship.

 

Have a good weekend,

 

Bob