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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Steve Green (R)

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Legislative update

Friday, February 11, 2022

Neighbor,

Tax relief remains a major priority for House Republicans this session with the state sitting on a $7.7 billion surplus. On the other hand, local business owners will soon be facing a completely unnecessary tax increase unless the Minnesota House Democrat majority acts soon.

The issue is Minnesota’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund was depleted by record-setting claims during the pandemic – largely because the governor shut down businesses. The federal government provided more than $1 billion to make up for the shortfall. Now, our state’s bill to the federal government is coming due and, unless the Legislature acts, tax rates are set to increase. On March 15, business owners face a 15% or more hike on their UI rates.

A House Republican bill immediately pays off the state’s  federal debt and restores the fund to solvency in order to protect employees’ future unemployment benefits.

Meanwhile, just after the Minnesota Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved a bipartisan unemployment insurance repayment bill this week, House Democrats advanced a proposal on a party-line vote to only partially repay the unemployment insurance trust fund. The House Democrat bill would only erase our federal debt, rather than the full repayment proposed by House and Senate Republicans – and even Gov. Walz.

It would be an injustice to our businesses to play political games with UI relief. The state will continue to incur interest and penalties and businesses will be hit with large UI tax increases if we don’t act soon. The Department of Employment and Economic Development has confirmed failure to fully repay the trust fund would result in six years of increased tax rates for businesses.

There’s no reason to delay or only go halfway on this bill. Nearly everyone at the Legislature supports fully repaying the UI fund – except for House Democrats – and the state has a historic surplus. It is time for House Democrats to listen to businesses, put partisanship aside and work with us to get this done with a clean bill. 

Let’s get this done now and do the right thing for businesses. It’s not their fault more people were put out of work during a pandemic.

On another issue related to tax relief, I have mentioned eliminating the state tax on Social Security is another top priority this year. House Republicans have now introduced a bill to make this happen. In 2017, House Republicans successfully reduced or eliminated social security taxes for more than 270,000 Minnesota seniors. We have continued pushing to get rid of social security taxes once and for all and will keep working to finish the job.

Sincerely,

Steve