House Taxes Committee sends its final bill onward

While the 2023 tax law was mostly about targeted tax relief for lower earners and higher tax rates for those at the other end of the income spectrum, the product of this year’s work by the House Taxes Committee chiefly came down to improvements and enhancements for state tax policies already on the books.

But there was still a fair amount of controversy Friday, as eight proposed amendments to the 2024 House tax bill were voted down, each on a party-line vote. In the end, the committee approved the bill by the same 12-9 party-line vote and referred it to the House Ways and Means Committee.

Sponsored by Rep. Aisha Gomez (DFL-Mpls), replaced by a delete-all amendment and further amended, HF5247 would make last year’s child tax credit available to households with 18-year-olds and make it possible to stagger the credit over the course of multiple payments. It would also allow seniors to receive advance payments on their homestead credits, and direct the Department of Revenue to develop a tax preparation program that would be free for most filers.