- So let's start with the point that Representative Igo made with regard to taxes.

There are claims that there are tax increases and tax cuts in the bill of large tax cuts and large tax increases.

And I think it's a good way to begin our conversation this evening with some discussion about the tax issue as you see it.

Let's start with you representative Long, let's talk about taxes, increases, cuts, what would you like to tell our viewers about that?

- Sure.

Well I'm really proud of the tax bill that we put together.

It is the largest tax cut in state history, $3 billion in tax cuts from Minnesotans.

And that includes, as I mentioned, some property tax cuts for individuals, renters' tax credits.

It includes the largest reduction in child poverty in years.

One third cut in child poverty because of the child tax credit, which was something that Governor Walz pushed very hard for in his budget and his work this session.

And then it does include some revenue, it includes a billion dollars in revenue and that is focused on corporate overseas profits.

So corporations that are trying to hide their earnings overseas and on the wealthiest Minnesotans to ask them to do a little bit more of their fair share.

And I think that that's only fair given the context we've seen in the last five to 10 years where the wealthiest Minnesotans in our estate have doubled their incomes since the pandemic and we've seen an 8% to 9% drop for individuals in the lowest bracket.

So we know that a lot of families are struggling and we're trying to help provide some direct relief to those individuals, whether it's through property tax, renters' credit, child tax credit, social security tax relief that we mentioned.

And so I think this is a very balanced bill that does a lot of good for Minnesotans.

- All right, very good.

Senator Duckworth, your thoughts, tax increases, tax cuts, what do you think of the tax legislation in this session?

- Sure.

Well, I think respectfully, I think the three, calling it simply a $3 billion tax cut is a little bit of a misnomer or just really only tells one side of the story.

Holistically, when you look at all the legislation that was passed over the course of the session, you're looking at about a 9 to $10 billion increase in taxes across the board.

I don't call it new revenue, I call it tax increases.

And mind you, we started with $19 billion in surplus of taxpayer dollars and so to burn through it all and then increase spending by 40% or 9 to $10 billion in additional taxes, I think is what has some Minnesota's frustrated.

And I get that many of the things that were in the tax bill are well intended and are seeking to help people.

But in the long run, I think the cumulative effect it's gonna have on the state is it's gonna increase the cost of living for everybody.

And the folks that are gonna unfortunately suffer under that cost of increase in living the most are gonna be folks that are at the lowest rung of income earning.

And so you're gonna see them impacted substantially more than you are others.

So while it may be touted as a pretty substantial cut when you look at the overall tax burden that's gonna be placed on the people of Minnesota from now and into the future, I think unfortunately it's gonna have the unintended consequence.

The last thing I say is this, the other aspect of this session is there were many bills that were passed that inevitably are gonna lead to significant property tax increases.

I'll save it for a conversation as it relates to education if we have that one.

But there are bills that don't necessarily fully fund certain things.

It's gonna force our cities and counties to increase property taxes on folks who cover the shortfall they're gonna have when it comes to their budgets.

- Senator Kunesh, tax increases, tax cuts.

What's your view of the tax legislation?

- Well, somebody recently told me that if we want nice things, we're gonna have to pay for them.

And we know that Minnesotans enjoy a high standard of living here in Minnesota.

Due to the weather, we see the really hardware and tear on our roads and our bridges on our infrastructure.

And for such a long time those investments have not been made in ensuring that we have that our cities, that our counties, our municipalities have those dollars to ensure that they can address those issues.

And just as Representative Long said, these are dollar, these tax breaks are really targeted at the folks that are struggling the most.

When you think of the millions of families who are going to benefit from this childcare tax relief, it's going to make a difference, a big difference in how they can take care of their family, doesn't mean that they'll be able to now purchase a home and be able to pay a mortgage.

And we know that housing home ownership is the beginning of generational wealth.

And so for a lot of families who have struggled for so long, this is really, really going to make a difference.

And you know, I feel like there's a good balance going forward and plugging those holes and plugging those areas that have not been, had the attention, the financial attention.

You know, when we look at transportation and those sort of things, I think that we came up with a really good balance of tax and revenue building as well as relief for families.

And I'm certainly proud to have been part of this legislative session.

- Representative Igo, you had a swing at this issue a little while ago, but you get another opportunity.

Your comments, tax increases, tax cuts, your view of the tax legislation.

- Yeah, you know I just found it very interesting, right?

I mean when we were going through the Covid pandemic, we learned a lot of things about how we need to be supporting people and giving 'em the most opportunity that they have to be able to have money in their pocket to be able to pride for themselves.

You know, now fast forward to this session and we're dealing with, you know, inflation through the roof and we have people that said, hey, statewide mandates blanket policy doesn't work.

And that's what this tax bill did today.

It created blanket policy that's gonna be hurting Minnesotans based on whether you live in my district or you live in Southern Minnesota or the Metro.

If we really want to create that generational wealth, we wanna give people the most to prosper.

Well, it's giving them a handout with giving 'em more money in their pocket.

And when you increase regressive taxes that are gonna hurt people, and when you look at ways where we are gonna incentivize more wealth migration, I mean that was an issue that we're dealing with right now.

We are seeing people and wealth leave our state because of the increased taxes.

And now my deep concern is if we keep on that trend, we're gonna start looking like a state like Illinois or California where that wealth disappears and when you lose that wealth, you lose those businesses and then you lose the jobs and all of a sudden Minnesota's spiraling and we need to stabilize ourselves.

So I mean that there's a lot of things connected to this.

Another tax that I feel like I need to mention is the renewable energy standard.

There's many co-ops and munis and IOUs around the state that are very concerned about reaching those goals because we don't have an all of the above approach where we can use other facets to keep energy affordable and reliable.

And the reason I bring that up is 'cause your cost of electricity, your cost of energy is just another tax on you being able to live your life.

And the best way to lift people out of poverty and give them the needs to succeed is lowering energy costs.

So I just wanted to add that note too 'cause I think that's another tax increase that we need to mention.

- We'll probably have an opportunity to talk about taxes and connection with some more budget discussion as we get along a little further in our program.

But I wanna move to a topic that we get a lot of questions