House Tax Chair says elimating deductions = tax hike

Posted at 12:35 PM on February 23, 2011 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: MN Legislature, Mark Dayton

The chair of the Minnesota House Tax Committee isn't looking favorably on his Senate counterparts plan to eliminate some of the state's tax breaks to help balance the budget. Senate Tax Chair Julianne Ortman said today that she would look at eliminating some deductions because she considered it "government spending." She said it was possible that they could use some of those funds to close the state's $6.2 billion projected budget deficit.

But House Tax Chair Greg Davids says closing any of those tax breaks should be viewed as a tax hike.

"For me, if you are taking away a deduction from someone, they will be paying more taxes. So do they get a tax increase? I would have to answer yes."

Governor Dayton says he's pleased to see Senate Republicans looking at revenue to help solve the state's budget problems. He has proposed raising income taxes on Minnesota's top earners to balance the budget. Republicans in both the House and Senate oppose the idea.

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