Dear Neighbor,
Shout-out to Ben Bugbee, of Paynesville, for recently earning the FFA state degree, the organization’s highest award in high school. Congratulations to Ben, and good luck as he competes in three events at the state competition.
The $10 billion question
The Legislature has returned from the Easter/Passover break and, with our regular committee schedule having concluded, our attention now will turn more to action on the floor with the full body conducting discussions and votes of bills.
This year’s omnibus finance packages are expected to come to the floor next week. The state already is fully funded for the biennium but, with a surplus of around $10 billion, finances still will be a primary focus the rest of this year – with decidedly different approaches from the House and the Senate majorities. In short:
Senate Republicans recently passed the largest tax cut in state history, at more than $8 billion. This accounts for most of the budget surplus and includes eliminating the state’s Social Security income tax and reducing income taxes. The average tax relief per filer would be $759, with a family making $100,000 per year receiving a tax break of $1,066 every year.
House Democrats, on the other hand, propose $21 in new government spending for every $1 in tax cuts. Their plan spends more on programs, with total tax reductions in the House Democrat tax bill amounting to less than $600 million over the next three years. Overall, their proposal is for $12.2 billion in new government spending, a 14 percent state spending increase.
No news on UI tax increase
Funding to repay the deficit in Minnesota’s unemployment insurance trust fund to reverse the recent tax hikes that Minnesota employers are suffering is conspicuously missing from the House’s supplemental budget package.
This tax increase is unnecessary and, particularly with the state enjoying a historic surplus, the state can more than afford to fill its Unemployment Trust Fund to solvency, repeal the tax increases on employers, and stop Minnesota from having to borrow $50,000 a day from the federal government.
There is broad, bipartisan support for taking care of this issue and the Senate approved legislation to do so more than two months ago. But House Democrats so far remain unwilling to bring a bill to the floor.
Members of the majority downplayed the original March 15 deadline prescribed by state officials, insisting that lawmakers had until April 30, when tax bills are due, to act on this matter. But now that date is approaching and, if the UI trust fund is not repaid, it would result in 10 years of higher taxes on employers.
Drought relief
A conference committee has started meeting to reconcile differences between House and Senate packages for drought relief that impacted farmers throughout our state last summer. The House bill includes $5.1 million – and a maximum of $10,000 available to each farmer. The Senate bill includes $7 million with up to $5,000 available per farmer. One main major point to resolve in an agreement centers on $13.3 million the House provides to the DNR in its bill, compared with 0 DNR dollars in the Senate version.
While I am glad to see this legislation moving closer to final approval, it also is something that should have been finished long ago. Farmers had to liquidate herds, lost crops and suffered other damages during last summer’s dry conditions, only driving up prices for producers and consumers alike at a time we already are facing historic rises in costs. Put it this way: It’s taken so long to get this relief through the process that we could be facing spring flooding concerns by the time drought relief could be provided.
Broken down, the House’s proposal says $1 million would go to livestock farmers, $1 million to specialty crop farmers, $500,000 for farmers’ market vendors and $100,000 for livestock hay and forage. Meanwhile, the Senate bill has $5.5 million for livestock farmers, $1.5 million for livestock or specialty crop farmers, and up to $100,000 of the $1.5 million for livestock feed transport.
Until next time, have a good weekend and, as always, please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
Lisa