Senate Tax bill hikes income taxes across the board

Posted at 9:07 AM on April 21, 2009 by Tom Scheck

Democrats in the Minnesota Senate have proposed a Tax bill that increases income taxes across the board and creates a new 4th tier income tax bracket on couples earning more than $250,000 a year. The proposed income tax rates are scheduled to expire in 2014. The plan raises $2.2 billion and would help erase nearly half of the state's $4.6 billion budget deficit.

Both the Senate and House bills create a new top income tax bracket on high earning Minnesotans but the House plan doesn't raise income taxes on all Minnesotans. It instead increases cigarette and alcohol taxes. Here's a glimpse at the House Tax bill.

Democrats say they're offering the tax bill to fix the state's budget problems. But Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty has said he'd veto any bills that include a tax increase.

UPDATE: Here's the bill summary.

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