First of all, on the whole the session ended better than I feared it might. Gov. Tim Walz did the “moderate” thing as a U.S. Representative for southern Minnesota, and I was concerned that as governor he’d be willing to give too much to the Party of Trump to make deals. That didn’t happen.
Some positives happened for workers. Especially a strong wage theft bill.
The Legislature’s work isn’t over, however, with Minnesota AFL-CIO priorities such as new revenue to fix our roads and bridges, paid family & medical leave, OneCare public health insurance, and the 40-hour work week waiting for the 2020 session. Additional Labor priorities including teacher licensure reform, drivers licenses for all, a two-person train crew requirement, restoring voting rights, protecting Minnesota’s call center workers from outsourcing, and a state Equal Rights Amendment were all met with obstruction in the Republican-controlled Senate. - Minnesota AFL-CIOI thought the GOP would really demand a king's ransom for extending the medical provider tax, although it did take a cut from 2 to 1.8%. I’m not entirely sure why there actually wasn’t all that much drama. All of those polls showing health care as the public's top issue, or very close to it, for 2020 presumably had something to do with it.
One more:
...the Minnesota Senate and House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Agriculture Policy Bill which includes dedicated funding and support for Farm to School and Early Care initiatives across the state. The bill will now head to Governor Walz to be signed. The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) and a coalition of other farming, nutrition and anti-hunger stakeholders worked to support this policy that will expand access to fresh, local and healthy foods for Minnesota students and new, stable markets for Minnesota farmers. - IATP
Question : Who will get the $60 million tax cut ?
ReplyDeleteAnswer : I will let you know after returning from my African safari.
$60 million ... that's what the reduction in the MN Providers Tax assuming that KARE11's reports is correct that it "generates $600 million a year" and will be reduced by 10% (.02 -vs- .018).
BTW The Minnesota Medical Association forecasts that in 2019, the tax will generate more than $690 million in revenue.
In theory, the service provider (i.e. your dentist) was paying the tax and logically, it would be included in the service fee (which the consumer or insurance company paid.)
FYI The provider tax is a tax on the gross revenues from health care services provided by various types of providers -- physician services, care provided by dentists, chiropractors, physical therapists, optometrists, psychologists, and health care services provided at hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers.
IMO, this tax is so small that the consumer doesn't realize it nor would likely not seek out the service.
For example, in the Twin Cities, fees for a routine dental examination and cleaning ranged from $98 to $215 ... so a buck or two probably will not stop/delay you from getting your teeth cleaned.
Since the consumer probably did not realize that they were paying the tax, I bet that the dental hygienist or receptionist doesn't even know about the tax ... but next time when you are in the chair (waiting the the dentist to return from his African safari), ask how much the dental cleaning rate will change.
Wanna bet it won't ... meaning that Minnesota consumers just help send Walter Palmer DDS on another lion hunt.
This change is really a reflection of the Grove Norquist ideology that taxes be reduced "to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub".
Here's a tax that was put in place by Governor Arne Carlson and existed for 27 years ... until the budget agreement in 2011 when the MNGOP-controlled Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton set the tax’s repeal for Dec. 31, 2019.
IMO, this tax cut is just like the Erik Paulsen-led suspension of the "onerous" 2.3% medical device tax ... which reduced the taxes collected (meaning the national debt took another hit) and improved the companies bottom line.