Minnesotans could start to see those one-time tax rebate payments hit their bank accounts as soon as this week.
The payments include $260 for individual filers making less than $75,000 a year, or $520 for married couples making less than $150,000 per year. Families could also receive another $260 apiece for up to three dependents with a maximum amount of $1,300.
WCCO Radio political analyst Blois Olson tells Vineeta Sawkar on the Morning News Wednesday that the rebate plan is $1.1 billion of the $18 billion surplus, and the amount of the rebate could leave some feeling short-changed.
“I think if you’re getting the $1,300 rebate check you’re thinking ‘oh, this is pretty good’. If you get $260 you might be like really,” says Olson. “When you put it in relation to $18 billion, it’s not as much as Minnesotans wanted.”
The governor is championing the rebate checks as a help to Minnesota families preparing for back-to-school. Tim Walz says it comes at a perfect time.
"It was our goal to get them out when back-to-school was going on," says Walz. "We've got students you're going to hear from, parents you're going to hear from, about how this money will make life simpler for them."
The rebate checks come after Democratic negotiators in both the House and Senate struck a deal on a $3 billion tax bill in May. The state of Minnesota had around $18 billion in surplus but struggled to agree on the amount of the rebate to taxpayers.
Last year Governor Tim Walz had proposed rebate checks for Minnesotans at a higher $2,000 amount, but Republicans labeled it a "campaign gimmick" and asked for significant spending cuts instead. DFL lawmakers wanted to give back lesser amounts and spend more surplus money before this current deal was struck.
Walz says he still would have liked bigger rebates but adds he is happy the legislature reached an agreement anyway.
"It's higher than zero," the governor noted. "We worked together on this. Certainly I wanted a little bit more, but we compromised together. We worked from their zero up to this $1,300 per these families that we got to."
Direct deposit payments will go out first, followed by paper checks in the mail. The department expects the nearly 2.1 million rebate payments to be initiated in the next few weeks. Commissioner of Revenue Paul Marquart says about 200,000 direct deposits were made Tuesday night.
"Today, we're hoping to get out 600,00 to 700,000 of the direct deposits and hope to finish out the 1.1 million direct deposits tomorrow," says Marquart. "We start issuing the checks, which are about 950,000 starting on Friday. That process will not be quite as quick but we hope to get that out within a couple of weeks."
Despite the criticism that more money should be going out, Marquart did note that of the 24 states that have done rebates the last few years, Minnesota ranks at least sixth for maximum refunds.
For anyone who was not able to update their bank information with the state by their July 28 deadline, Marquart says payments will default to paper checks as long as the state has your most up-to-date information. The state is using 2021 tax returns to determine who is eligible.