Hello from the State Capitol,
A busy week has ended at the State Capitol, as the House and Senate reached a compromise on a budget and spent the past few days approving a number of those compromise spending proposals.
To me, the highlight was our $1.15 billion tax relief proposal for middle-class Minnesotans. Some highlights:
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Under the plan, nearly 322,000 senior citizen tax returns (single and married filing jointly) would receive tax reductions by increasing the income limit thresholds for the taxation of social security income. For example, seniors making $50,000 would see an average tax savings of $425.
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65,000 students will receive an average of a $414 reduction in their taxes through a first-in-the-nation tax credit for student loan payments.
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Approximately 240,000 farmers could receive property tax relief to reduce their disproportionate share of school district debt service by reducing the burden they pay for school bond levies.
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Families of four making $50,000 a year will receive an additional $1,200 towards their child care expenses by modifying the child and dependent care credit.
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Every Main Street business owner will see relief by exempting the first $150,000 in property value from the extra tax on businesses and freezing its automatic inflator.
We also approved a transportation bill that would dedicate more than $5 billion to our road and bridge needs without raising taxes, and a K-12 Education bill that invests more than $1 billion in new revenue into our schools. More budget proposals are expected to be brought forward Monday.