by Mary Stroka
Many Minnesota taxpayers would receive stimulus checks under a bill Assistant Majority Leader State Rep. Dan Wolgamott, DFL-St. Cloud, introduced Tuesday.
Single filers and married individuals who filed a separate return would receive $500, and married couples filing jointly or individual head of household filers would receive a one-time payment of $1,000. The stimulus checks could start arriving in mailboxes by late summer, a news release from Wolgamott’s office said.
Gov. Tim Walz proposed the bill, HF 4625, which would draw funding from the state’s budget surplus, the release said.
To be eligible for the payments, individuals must have been residents of the state in 2020, filed 2020 individual income tax returns by Oct. 15, 2021, and filed claims for refunds in 2021 for property taxes they paid for rent property taxes in 2020.
Not eligible are:
- Earners of more than $164,400 as single individual filers.
- Earners of more than $273,470 as married couples filing jointly.
- Earners of more than $218,540 as head of household in taxable income in 2020.
- Earners of more than $136,735 as married individuals who filed a separate return.
The commissioner of revenue would receive one-time appropriations of $7.752 million in fiscal year 2022 and $215,000 in fiscal year 2023 from the general fund.
“With a $9.25 billion surplus, we can afford to make direct payments to taxpayers while also investing in the critical needs of our state,” Wolgamott said in the release. “I’m proud to work with Governor Walz to put money in the pockets of Minnesotans as families cope with unprecedented rising prices and economic challenges.”
Center of the American Experiment Economist John Phelan told The Center Square in an emailed statement Wednesday that the bill won’t aid Minnesotans all that much.
“With prices rising at 40 year high rates, a one off payment of $500 just isn’t going to do much to help hard working, hard pressed Minnesotans,” he said. “Instead, we should ease the burden on them by reducing taxes, one of the biggest expense Minnesotans face, with permanent tax rate cuts.”
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Mary Stroka is a contributor to The Center Square.
