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Health & Fitness

2013 Legislative Wrap Up: How will it affect your business?

Intern Megan highlights some of the biggest changes brought on by the 2013 MN Legislature and asks for your opinions on how these changes might affect your business.

 

The end of the 2013 legislative session has brought some mixed feelings by many Minnesotans. The session was a long and grueling process, but by midnight last Monday, lawmakers finally came to an agreement. The three biggest changes involve taxes, education and construction projects. 

One of the biggest bills passed will allow for over $2 billion in tax increases. This will be accomplished by increasing the income tax rate from 7.85% to 9.85% for those couples making over $250,000 or singles making over $150,000. In addition, they approved a cigarette tax, doubling the tax already on cigarettes. They also approved a law prohibiting increases in property taxes. There was a possibility of implementing a sales tax on clothing, but it was not approved. There were certain business to business taxes that were included in the final budget bill.

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Education funding involved approving free all-day kindergarten to students at schools who choose to offer it. On the other end of the spectrum, college education was another area of focus. The Dream Act will provide in-state tuition rates for undocumented students who wish to attend higher education. It also makes them eligible to apply for state grants. Another bill affecting college students will prevent increases in tuition at state colleges and universities.  One bill that did not pass addressed bullying in schools.

The legislators also approved renovations for the Capitol building totaling over $100 million. Other renovations include funding for damages done in southern Minnesota by an April ice storm. $585 million will also go to renovations in Rochester and the Mayo Clinic to make it a “Destination Medical Center.”

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Here at the DCR Chamber, our goal is to serve businesses needs in both Dakota County, as well as our state. This blog is purely informational and is not intended to represent the views of the chamber. However, we are curious as to how these new laws will affect your business or work life in general. Please let us know how you feel about these differentgovernment actions and what you would like to see come out of them. Thanks so much for reading!

-DCR Intern Megan

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