Rep. Demuth Says Tax Hikes Should Be Off The Table

(KNSI) – “My jaw dropped.” That’s how House Minority Leader Lisa Demuth describes her reaction to Minnesota’s $17.6 billion projected budget surplus.

Demuth says the figure should end any discussion of tax hikes. Governor Tim Walz has previously proposed a 20-cent gasoline tax as well as a new 10.8% income tax bracket, both of which were rejected by Republicans in the legislature in prior sessions.

Demuth went further, targeting the state’s Social Security income tax as one that should be eliminated.

“We know the cost to ending [the] Social Security tax is $500 million over a biennium.”

She says the surplus blew past what she was anticipating.

“I didn’t think we were gonna see $17.6 billion today. I thought it would’ve dropped slightly. We aren’t doing the right thing for Minnesotans and their hard-earned cash.”

She appeared Tuesday on KNSI’s Ox in the Afternoon program with host Dan ‘The Ox’ Ochsner.

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