ST. PAUL — The Minnesota House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill that will increase tax deductions for taxpayers after last year's tax bill inadvertently failed to adjust for inflation.
“Last session, Democrats delivered the biggest tax cut in state history, helping working families, homeowners and renters, and seniors experience economic stability. This session, we are taking decisive action early to be effective and responsive by passing a Technical Tax Corrections Bill,” bill author Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, said in a prepared statement. “I’m proud of our team for pulling this important bill together so quickly, ensuring that as many working and middle-class Minnesotans experience the full benefit of the 2023 tax bill as possible.”
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The bill, amends the Legislature's 2023 tax act, which reduced the standard deductions for the 2024 tax year by undoing inflation adjustments. The bill now accounts for those adjustments going back to 2019 and is retroactively effective for 2023.
The bill passed 128 to 2 with Representatives Matt Grossell, R-Clearbrook, and Shane Mekeland, R-Clear Lake, voting no.
For a married joint filer, the standard deduction is increased by $3,250 to $27,650. For a head of household filer, it was increased by $2,450 to $20,800.
The bill also provides for increases to deductions for seniors and blind taxpayers between $150 and $200.
Amendments to the bill, which include getting rid of film production credits, moving the effective date and a tax credit for small businesses were all voted down on the House floor Monday, Feb. 19, mostly along party lines.
The amendments sought to adjust a change to the net operating loss corporations were allowed to deduct from their taxes. Gomez, who also chairs the House Taxes Committee, urged legislators not to vote for those amendments because the February budget forecast has not been released.
"I am happy to see that we are saving taxpayers from the $350 million mistake but there is absolutely no reason to have left the net operating loss on a to-do list," Minority Leader Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said on the House floor Monday.
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The percentage of net operating loss corporations were allowed to deduct changed from 80% to 70% of their taxable income last year, which is forecasted to bring in about $15 million in additional tax revenue.
Its Senate companion bill, was re-referred to the Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Feb. 15.