Focusing on tax relief for businesses and workers
We’ve been focusing on tax relief in the Minnesota Senate. Recently we approved a bipartisan bill to provide significant, urgent tax relief to Minnesota businesses and individuals for federal assistance they received during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Small business owners and their workers have been struggling to survive throughout the pandemic due to Gov. Walz’s arbitrary restrictions on businesses. They relied on emergency PPP loans and accepted extra unemployment from the federal government to get by, but now they are facing big tax bills from those funds. We need to protect our small businesses and I’m glad we were able to do so with this bill.
The bill contains two main components:
- The bill protects businesses by exempting federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans from state taxes. These emergency loans, issued by the federal government last year to help businesses struggling to survive the Covid-19 pandemic, are not subject to federal taxes; the Senate bill would conform Minnesota tax laws to federal rules.
- The bill also allows Minnesotans who collected additional Covid unemployment benefits from the federal government to subtract a portion of those benefits on their income taxes this year. In addition to regular unemployment benefits, many laid-off workers received bonus unemployment payments of $600-per-week or $300-per-week through the federal CARES Act. Minnesota withheld taxes from the regular unemployment payments, but not from the bonus payments. Many individuals were surprised with hefty tax bills because the state did not withhold taxes on those payments.
Supporting law enforcement
The Senate also approved legislation funding the Law Enforcement Operations Account (LEO), securing resources for emergency law enforcement operations tied to extraordinary and unplanned emergency events. The resources can be accessed by state and local law enforcement following an emergency declaration or when the Minnesota State Patrol requests assistance for state properties, particularly the Minnesota Capitol.
It is very possible, perhaps even likely, that there will be more lawlessness during the Chauvin trial. The Minneapolis police department has done an admirable job preparing, but we have to make sure they have the resources they will need to fully protect the public.
Importantly, the legislation prohibits the governor from using the Disaster Assistance Contingency Account for riots. Over the past year, Governor Walz raided 70% of the account to provide Hennepin County $11.7 million to help rebuild public infrastructure, undermining the spirit of the fund. Under the reform, the account would be only eligible for natural disasters and some human-made disasters like dam or bridge failure, and the legislature would need to be called into a special session to address civil unrest. That’s the way it should be.
Contact me
If you have any questions about any of these issues, please feel free to contact me any time at sen.julie.rosen@senate.mn or 651-296-6996. It is a privilege to serve as your Senator!