Update: Senate Tax Chair Tom Bakk just told us he wants to raise taxes on every Minnesotan by rolling back the 2001 tax cut on all income tax tiers. The caucus is deciding right now just how to raise taxes for a new education spending bill that will provide new money for early childhood, K-12 and higher education. This tax increase will not be part of the omnibus tax bill, but will live in this new education bill that's coming from the finance committee.
We'll maybe it's not a secret, but it's not in any official public document. The Senate just rolled out its tax bill and the only tax increase in print is gaining money from cracking down on foreign operating corporations. Everyone around the Capitol believes a big income tax increase is coming from the Senate at any minute, maybe Thursday in Tax Committee or as late as Friday when the tax bill hits the Senate floor for a vote. Today on the floor several Republicans called out their colleagues saying the tax increase is coming Friday. I hear there's still a bit of strive within the Senate DFL caucus about just when to unveil their tax increase. Some members want to deal with it before leaving for Easter break, others are concerned about getting an earful on tax increases from voters when lawmakers head home to their districts. The number we're hearing is a billion dollars. Now part of that billion could come from the $629 million the Senate just socked away into budget reserves because the other number we're hearing is $300-400 million which if combined with the number in reserves also equals a billion. Anyway, everyone in the Capitol was skeptical that the Senate would really stick to its stingy budget targets which were even lower than the governor's numbers. But leaders kept saying "these are real numbers" I think we'll soon see how real those original numbers really are.
