ST. PAUL – State Representative Steve Jacob (R-Altura) is sponsoring legislation that would eliminate the unnecessary statewide tax on Social Security benefits for ALL senior citizens.
“If we can’t provide all Minnesota senior citizens with tax relief with a nearly $18 billion surplus, when can we?” Jacob wondered.
Minnesota remains one of only a few states that taxes Social Security benefits. Several years ago, the legislature approved a provision that began to address this problem. By the end of that session, nearly 284,000 senior citizen tax filers received tax reductions, and 72,000 of those no longer paid state income tax on their Social Security benefits.
“When I knocked on doors last fall, one of the most frequent topics of discussion centered on eliminating the tax on Social Security,” Jacob said. “With a record surplus, it’s time to finish the job.”
Jacob noted that many Democrat candidates for both the House and Senate also said they were on board with the tax elimination. Unfortunately, the Senate Democrat majority failed its first test on this topic. When given the opportunity to amend a recent bill that would have included Social Security tax relief for all, every Senate Democrat voted no.
Jacob’s bill has been referred to the Minnesota House Taxes Committee.