ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Senate passed a tax bill with $681 million in tax cuts. Senate President Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, praised the bill, particularly provisions that exempt unemployment benefits from state taxes, as well as loans from the Pay Check Protection Program. The proposal also gives tax credits for child care, education, startups, struggling businesses, and housing, Miller noted. Passage in the Republican-controlled Senate, however, doesn’t mean the bill is a done deal. Hurdles ahead in the legislative process are the Democratic-controlled House and also Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat.  The Senate bill is in stark contrast to the House proposal, which calls for raising $1.2 billion in new taxes on wealthy individuals and large companies to pay for tax cuts geared toward lower-income earners. Said Miller: “I don’t think we need to raise over a billion dollars of new taxes to exempt social security from state income taxes,” said Miller. “I think there’s a way to do it with existing resources, but unfortunately it has not been a priority of House or the governor so it’s going to be very difficult to get that done.” Miller anticipates he will have a spot on the bicameral conference committee to work out differences with the House tax bill.

Among Senate provisions

> Raise the property tax exclusion, from $100,000 to $150,000, for high-tech businesses, restaurants, brewers, and ethanol retailers that were hurt by the Covid pandemic.

> Support affordable workforce housing, for daycare, for construction of public safety facilities.

> Adjust the K-12 tax credit for inflation so help working families.

> Extend the Angel Tax Credit by $10 million to encourages investments in startup companies focused on high tech.

> Provide a temporary sales tax exemption for hospitality businesses to adapt to Covid guidelines.

> Create a new in-home childcare provider property tax credit to ease the state’s childcare shortage.

Verbatim

Jeremy Miller, Winona senator: “It has been a challenging year for Minnesota workers and small businesses. The federal government’s Covid assistance programs helped, but many of them are still financially uncertain. Rather than raising taxes, the Senate is focused on providing broad tax relief to support these folks through the remainder of the pandemic and beyond. I’m proud of the bipartisan work in the Minnesota Senate to help provide this much-needed relief to small businesses and individuals across the state.”

Miller. Senate District 28: Fillmore, Houston and Winona counties.