Dear Neighbor,
The second week of the 2024 session is ending in St. Paul and here’s a look at the latest news and notes:
Budget forecast ahead
Next week we are set to receive the February forecast, which will provide an updated economic report for our state after Democrats last year spent the entire $17.5 billion surplus, raised commissioner salaries, raised $10 billion in new taxes on Minnesotans, and spent $730 million on a new palace for politicians.
The November forecast projected a shortfall in the next biennium – just months after the one-party control spent the historic state surplus and raised state spending by 40 percent. We’ll soon see what the bottom line looks like now, but the need for balance in St. Paul remains because the current unilateral rule in Minnesota is irresponsible and unaffordable.
That’s not a full fix
The House approved a bill this week that fixes one mistake Democrats made in last year’s omnibus tax bill, but completely ignores another problem.
Last session, the Democrat-led legislature approved comprehensive taxes legislation that reduced standard income tax deductions, leading to tax increases for roughly 76 percent of Minnesotans. The House fixed that part this week, which is all fine and dandy. But there’s another error Democrats completely ignored that will cost Minnesota taxpayers $15 million unless the Legislature fixes it.
Specifically, the bill did not include agreed-upon language that would provide a technical fix to the Net Operating Loss provision. This provision reduced the NOL deduction from 80 percent to 70 percent of taxable income for corporations. The legislative intent was to make this provision effective for tax year 2024. However, the 2023 tax bill contained an effective date of tax year 2023.
Tax chairs from both the House and Senate wrote a letter to state revenue officials indicating they would fix it at their earliest opportunity. That letter was written in June. This is February, the party in full control broke their promise to Minnesotans, and I could not vote for the bill.
National FFA Week
Thank you to our FFA instructors and students as we celebrate National FFA Week. Your efforts to keep our ag industry strong are truly appreciated.
Here is some good info showing just how important ag is to our state’s economy:
- The Minnesota Department of Agriculture indicates our state ranks No. 6 in the nation in agricultural production, with $26 billion in agricultural sales per year.
- Minnesota’s combined agriculture, food processing, and forestry industries contribute over 15 percent of Minnesota’s total economic activities and support over 10 percent of all jobs.
- The overall impacts of Minnesota’s agricultural production, processing, and forestry industries generate nearly $106 billion annually in total economic impacts and support 388,134 jobs.
Precinct caucuses next week
This year’s precinct caucuses will take place at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 27. These meetings provide Minnesotans with the opportunity to participate in grassroots politics. The more people we have involved in this process, the better and I hope you can attend. The Minnesota Secretary of State website has a statewide Caucus Finder page to help citizens find their meeting locations.
Until next time, have a good weekend and please keep in touch.
Sincerely,
Shane