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State House passes GOP business tax phaseout

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Mar 22, 2012 at 7:45 am

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - The Minnesota House has passed a Republican-sponsored bill to reduce and ultimately eliminate state property taxes on businesses, but which Democrats criticized for shifting money away from a tax credit for renters.

Republicans passed the "tax relief and job creation act" Wednesday on a partly-line vote of 72-62. Its centerpiece is a one-year freeze on the state's property tax paid by businesses and corporations, and a permanent phase-out over 12 years starting in 2014.

Republicans say leaving more money with owners lets them invest back in their businesses and boost employment.

But Democrats hit hard on the way Republicans cover the lost revenue by reducing a tax credit for renters. They say that benefits corporations at the expense of senior citizens, the disabled, the poor and middle class.