Saturday, March 26th, 2022 --
INCOME TAX HOLIDAY
Minnesota is one of the five most heavily taxed states in the nation. And while inflation continues to climb, legislators in St. Paul are already spending YOUR $12 billion budget surplus!
I have pledged to support giving ALL of that surplus back, every single nickle! We passed the biggest budget in the history of our state last year, we don’t need to spend any more of your money.
While many Republicans have been running around telling everyone that we need to give it back, I am the only legislator who has acted on this by refusing to vote for any bill that spends the surplus.
I am serious about fighting to return YOUR money back to YOU!
This week I dropped a bill that would create a state income tax holiday for one full year. The state collects roughly $12 billion in income taxes, and we are sitting on a $12 billion budget surplus. Seems like a very simple solution is staring us in the face – abolish the income tax for a year. This is an idea that gubernatorial candidate, Neil Shah, has been talking about and I think he’s spot on.
ELIMINATE TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS
Speaking of income taxes, Minnesota is still one of only 13 states in the entire country that still taxes Social Security income benefits. Minnesotans are already taxed on that money while they are working.
You are being double taxed!
There are several bills in the House that address this issue, one of them being HF 26 which I have co-authored.
Motivated by the fact that we are now in an election year, Democrats in the house are showing some interest in eliminating the SS tax.
On Wednesday, in the Taxes Committee, a bill was heard that would essentially eliminate the tax on SS income benefits. Of course, the motion that was made before us was to roll this bill over into a gigantic omnibus bill.
The Democrats are intentionally and strategically violating our state constitution for political gain!
We need to be voting on these issues as a stand-alone bill like Article 4 Section 17 of the state constitution requires. We can kill the bad practice of omnibus bills if enough legislators simply refuse to vote for them.
UPDATED OFFICE HOURS
Thanks to everyone who came down to the State Office Building Last week. The SOB is still closed on Tuesdays and Fridays, so my updated office hours will be Monday from 12 - 2 PM and Thursday from 8 AM - 4:30 PM.
You can watch my weekly update from the capitol here.
Remember if you want to be politically respected you must be politically feared,
Erik Mortensen
State Representative, 55A
Contact
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me or my office. We are still attempting to provide regular contact remotely so if you have other needs, please email my Legislative Assistant, Bridget, at Bridget.Williams@house.mn.
Watch the Minnesota House on Public TV
Video: Streaming Website. Also you can watch committees and Floor Sessions on YouTube.