Hello from St. Paul,
On Tuesday, every area employer can begin preparing for a tax increase of 15% or more.
Minnesota needs to replenish its Unemployment Insurance (UI) Trust Fund by more than $1 billion. Available state surplus funds could be used for this purpose, as could federal COVID relief funding that totals more than $1 billion. If neither of these pots of money are utilized, the default repayment is tax increases on local business owners by 15% or more.
Last month, Governor Walz’s employment commissioner said March 15 was the deadline for the lawmakers to pass legislation and prevent significant tax increases on Minnesota businesses. Since then, the Minnesota Senate approved a full UI repayment bill on an overwhelming 55-11 bipartisan vote three weeks ago, while House Democrat leadership has done nothing.
As you know, I’ve been keeping you updated on this topic every week. We held a press conference recently highlighting the need to get this done. We also attempted to declare an urgency to debate legislation that would prevent this tax increase from taking effect. The move was blocked by the House Democrat majority.
The administration’s deadline is Tuesday. House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler made it clear this issue would be linked with the entire 2022 House Democrat legislative agenda which means a resolution before the middle of May is unlikely and every employer in the state will be paying higher payroll taxes.
HASTINGS CIVIC ARENA BILL RECEIVES DISCUSSION
Another of my bills was heard in committee this week. HF3566, which is a general appropriation cash request for improvements to the Hastings Civic Arena (which most of us recognize as the Hastings Ice Arena) , was heard in the Workforce & Business Development Committee. Due to a schedule conflict, Rep. Keith Franke agreed to present the bill to the committee on my behalf. Hastings Parks Director Chris Jenkins testified for the bill.
Have a good weekend,
Tony