Friends and Neighbors,

On May 2, Senate Democrats passed their tax bill, and it represents an absolute betrayal of Minnesota taxpayers. Despite the Democrats' promise to eliminate the tax on Social Security benefits, their bill failed to deliver on this crucial issue. While their bill includes some small aid and credits, the majority of the “relief” is in the form of local government and county program aid, which ultimately leads to more government spending. It certainly is not going to help you afford expensive groceries or gas.

We have a $19 billion surplus, yet their tax bill raises taxes by $1.2 billion through a new mandatory worldwide reporting tax, which is not present in any other state in the country. This is on top of the nearly $10 billion in tax increases found throughout their budget proposals.

In short, Democrats promised to return the surplus to the taxpayers, but they broke their promise.

Republicans offered a range of amendments during the floor debate to fix their bill. However, Democrats rejected most of them. These amendments would have significantly improved their bill and provided real relief to Minnesotans:

Create a permanent and automatic refund program to ensure taxpayers are first in line when there is a government surplus.
Require a supermajority vote to raise income taxes.
Eliminate the expiration of the childcare tax credit in 2030.
Restrict the use of public safety aid to only licensed peace officers.
Prohibit funds from going to cities or counties that took actions to “Defund the Police” through reduced funding for peace officers over the last four years.

It’s evident that Democrats are not focused on providing real tax relief for hard-working Minnesota families. Instead, they are focused on increasing government spending at a dangerous and unsustainable pace and implementing punishing tax increases that will hurt Minnesota families and cause even more people to flee this state.

The bottom line is that Democrats promised to provide tax relief but failed to deliver on it.

If you are curious, my Republican colleagues and I offered a plan to return the majority of the surplus to Minnesotans. It fully eliminated the tax on Social Security benefits, provided real income tax relief, relief for homeowners, relief for young families, and one-time rebates worth as much as $2,500. You can read about our plan here: https://www.mnsenaterepublicans.com/give-it-back/