![]() ![]() What is potential energy? Potential energy is energy that is stored and can be turned into kinetic energy, the energy of motion. While they've picked up bipartisan backing, the plans have not yet advanced through both chambers.Bolded words are vocabulary and concepts to highlight with students during the activity. Other priorities like repaying and replenishing the state's jobless fund, sending out aid to help nursing homes and creating new incentives for prospective police officers have also come up as potential uses for part of the $7.75 billion surplus. "We want to make sure that we take care of Minnesotans first and make sure that we’re ready for that rainy day." “We have to be very cautious and very prudent with the surplus," Senate Minority Leader Melisa López Franzen, DFL-Edina, said. And they said they’d pursue a statewide paid family leave program, aim to lower child care costs and bring down the cost of health care for Minnesotans. On Thursday, the House of Representatives advanced a $1 billion plan to send $1,500 checks to 667,000 front-line workers who remained on the job during the pandemic. Tim Walz and Democrats at the Legislature have brought forward proposals to issue rebate checks and targeted relief for workers rather than a tax cut that could apply to filers no matter how much money they make. That plan would cost about $3.5 billion in the current budget cycle and more in the coming years. And on Thursday, equipped with pairs of scissors to illustrate their point, Senate Republicans offered a proposal to cut income taxes for all filers and drop the tax on Social Security benefits. Since then, Republicans have called for tax relief to return those dollars to Minnesotans. ![]() That success spurred a historic $7.75 billion overshoot of taxpayer dollars paid in excess of the state’s $52 billion two-year budget, revenue officials announced late last year. The more than $73 billion in federal stimulus funding that flowed to Minnesota in the last two years not only prevented the deficit, but it helped Minnesotans and corporations stay afloat, with some bringing in more money than ever during the pandemic. In July of that year, experts said the state would fall $4.7 billion short of its budget target.īut as unemployment insurance, direct payments, federal loans and other relief funds started flowing out across the state, and as the outlook of the pandemic brightened with the rollout of vaccines in 2021, budget officials started tracking budget surpluses. In 2020, state budget officials said the state could face budget shortfalls as the COVID-19 pandemic started bearing down on the state and leaders at the state and local levels took steps to close down sectors of the economy to minimize the spread of the illness. “A month ago I would’ve guessed higher and with things that are going on, especially in Ukraine right now, it’s a concern so that might bring things back the other way but it really also expresses and highlights the importance of this ongoing tax relief package.” “Your guess is as good as mine,” Miller said. While the state has tracked strong income tax returns since the last estimate in December, Miller and other legislative leaders said they were reluctant to guess at what the new forecast would be as international tensions escalated and inflation rates climbed. “We will adapt accordingly to what the new forecast looks like,” Senate Majority Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, said Thursday as Republicans proposed an income tax cut. And they said Thursday that many of their plans could change depending on the news budget officials bring forward on Monday. In the first few weeks of the 2022 legislative session, leaders in the divided Statehouse have cued up their legislative wishlists and said their plans around that $7.75 billion figure. The news could force state lawmakers to pare back plans for a tentative $7.75 billion budget surplus or kickstart new discussions about additional tax relief or aid they can provide using the money. 28, are set to offer an update on the state’s finances and look ahead to what Minnesotans might be able to expect in the coming months. PAUL - State budget officials on Monday, Feb. ![]()
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