May 9, 2007 4:32 pm US/Central
Legislators Fishing For Money For Property Tax Aid
St. Paul (AP) ―
The state Senate plans to vote in coming days on a fast-tracked bill that would increase income taxes on top earners to draw down property taxes around the state.
To Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who bought his license on Wednesday for this weekend's walleye opener, the bill is just fishing for a veto.
"I'm practicing catch-and-release here at the Capitol, throwing back the DFL's tax increases and massive spending bills just as I'm going to be doing on the lake," he said.
"They're just playing a big shell game," he added. "They're offering Minnesotans a pittance or modest property tax relief. It is overshadowed by their increases in other categories."
The latest Senate plan is similar to one that passed the state House last month and more modest than a Senate tax proposal that would have created the highest-in-the-nation top income tax bracket. The goal is to put the bill on Pawlenty's desk by week's end.
"This is my effort to make sure homeowners get property tax relief out of this session," said Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook.
The bill establishes a fourth-tier income tax rate of 9 percent. A proposal the Senate approved in April would have enacted a 9.7 percent top rate.
Taxpayers pulling down salaries above $226,000 for single filers and $400,000 for married filers would feel the pinch.
The money that comes in -- about $904 million over the next four years -- would be fed into property tax refund programs and a state takeover of some school tax levies.
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