Star Tribune
Minnesota Democrats strike a deal on rebate checks, credits and Social Security tax cuts
Democrats struck a deal Wednesday on a $3 billion plan to send one-time tax rebate checks of $260 to 2.5 million Minnesotans, create a new tax credit they hope will slash childhood poverty rates and exempt many seniors from taxes on their Social Security income.
Local governments also will see a boost in aid to keep property taxes down and help cover public safety costs.
Not everyone will see a tax cut under the bill, and some corporations and wealthier Minnesotans will pay more.
“We had an extraordinary opportunity here to provide for children and families across the state,” DFL Senate Tax Chair Ann Rest said.
The deal, presented late Wednesday night, comes after months of negotiations among Democrats on how much to cut taxes — and who should benefit most — with a historic $17.5 billion budget surplus at their disposal. Republicans have been critical of the plan, pushing for more of the surplus to be devoted to tax cuts.
The final agreement on the one-time tax rebates is smaller than the $1,000 for individuals and $2,000 for married couples that Gov. Tim Walz pitched earlier this session.
Under the deal, single Minnesotans who make up to $75,000 a year can get a one-time refundable tax credit of $260, and $520 for married joint filers who make up to $150,000 a year. Families with children can get $260 more per child, up to three children, for a maximum of $1,300.
“It was a proposal we put forward, and we compromised in good faith on this. I’m glad Minnesotans are getting money back in their pocket,” Walz said. “It was a little smaller than we wanted, but there were other things that we got for that trade for children and families.”
DFL legislative negotiators included a version of the governor’s proposal to create a new child tax credit, which they estimate will cut childhood poverty in the state by nearly 25 percent. The new credit will provide families $1,750 per dependent, which will start phasing out at $35,000 in annual income for couples.
Meanwhile, couples earning up to $100,000 in annual income will be exempt from state tax on their Social Security income. Some Democrats campaigned on fully exempting that income from taxes.
Both the House and Senate DFL originally included a provision in their tax bills to require multinational corporations to report profits from subsidiaries, allowing Minnesota to collect taxes on those profits. But questions emerged about how much extra money the plan would raise for the state.
Democrats still raise roughly $1 billion in new revenue in the bill. Most of that money comes from conforming to a federal provision that taxes some profits from corporations with business overseas. Democrats also changed itemized deductions for higher-income earners.
Some renters and homeowners will see larger tax credits and refunds under the bill. Counties and local governments will each see an $80 million increase in aid, plus an additional one-time infusion of $300 million to help them cover public safety costs. Tribal nations will get $105 million in new aid over the next four years.
“That’s a transformational piece,” said House Tax Chair Aisha Gomez, who pushed for the tribal aid.
Republicans have criticized Democrats for removing an exemption for baby products such as strollers, car seats and cribs from the state’s sales tax.
“With an $18 billion surplus, you can shake a couch cushion around here to find $7 million to help growing families in the state of Minnesota,” said Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Chanhassen, who successfully added the exemption to the Senate tax bill only to see it removed later.
The final deal must still pass both the House and Senate before it can head to Walz for his signature.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
Much of the wood waste in the metro area is sent to a processing site near Pig’s Eye Lake in St. Paul, where it is stored before being burned to produce energy at the St. Paul Cogeneration plant downtown.
Cogeneration provides power to about half of downtown and was originally built to manage elm-tree waste in response to Dutch elm disease. The plant burns approximately 240,000 tons of wood each year, according to Michael Auger, senior vice president of District Energy in St. Paul.
Jim Calkins, a certified landscape horticulturalist who has been involved in discussions about the problem, said he thinks using wood for energy is the most logical solution.
“The issue is, we don’t have enough facilities to be able to handle that, at least in the Twin Cities,” Calkins said. “So there has to be dollars to support transportation to get the wood to those places, or in some cases, to upgrade some of those facilities such that they are able to burn wood.”
Plans are in place to convert Koda Energy in Shakopee to burn ash wood, which could potentially handle around 40,000 tons of wood waste, but that would take around two years to establish, according to Klapperich.
In some areas of the state, cities have resorted to burning excess wood waste because they felt they had no other option. Open burning wood releases a lot of carbon into the air, Klapperich said.
Weary from the rat race nature of practicing commercial law, Danielle Miller had long dreamed of starting a new professional life as a bookstore owner. When the Lincoln, Neb., resident saw a space at St. Paul’s Union Depot, she moved to make her dream a reality. She and her husband now call the Macalester-Groveland neighborhood home.
Eye On St. Paul recently visited with Miller in her sun-drenched store, Story Line Books, to talk about what spurred her to leave the law behind and lose herself in shelves of books. This interview was edited for length.
Q: So, you’ve opened a bookstore, in Lowertown. Are you a little crazy?
A: That’s been the reaction. There’s been a lot of “Really? Lowertown?” There’s been a lot of that. It’s a little unnerving.
Q: Why decide to just up and move to St. Paul?
A: We travel a lot; we travel all over the world. And we go to bookstores. We were here visiting [my husband’s] parents in Woodbury, and we drove down Randolph because we like to eat at Due Focacceria. And we saw this building that had “For Sale” on it. It was a 900-square-foot retail spot on the bottom and an apartment above. And I was like, that is the European bookstore dream, right? I looked it up online, but it got scooped up. A week later, I was looking again and this [Union Depot space] was the first post.
I was immediately in love. The next time we were up here, we made arrangements to come and see it. And I told my husband, “You should probably get a job in St Paul.”
Q: Back up a few steps. Why this compulsion to open a bookstore when you were a working attorney?
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