MREA reported last week that Governor Dayton was backing away from two major components of his tax reform and budget plan.
The business-to-business sales tax expansion is dead unless the Senate DFL chooses to pick it up. House DFL leaders had backed away from it from the start.
The Governor’s homeowner rebate is dead as well. The combined effect nets out to be about a wash for the Governor’s overall budget plan moving forward. He’s still insisting on raising $1.8 billion to back fill the $627 million deficit and to invest in education and workforce development.
The lions’ share of his revenue increase comes from raising the upper income tax rate from 7.85 percent to 9.85 percent. That alone raises just over $1 billion for the next biennium.
The bottom line for K-12 education didn’t change amidst the Governor’s budget shuffle.
The next big question is what will the House and Senate DFL leaders allot for a K-12 spending target as they move into this week. The House Ways & Means committee has scheduled a public hearing to set their budget resolution for Wednesday evening at 7 pm. The budget resolution becomes a governing document for the House for the remainder of the session.