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My Point of View by Jennifer Vogt-Erickson

State Rep. Peggy Bennett and state Sen. Gene Dornink are intent on helping the most affluent seniors even at the risk of program cuts for less well-heeled senior citizens. They pitch it as relief for “hard-working” Minnesotans.

If we value fairness, we should oppose full repeal of Minnesota’s Social Security tax that Bennett and Dornink are pushing. 

Some reduction in Minnesota’s taxation of Social Security benefits is reasonable. Where it stands today, 55% of Minnesota households with seniors already pay no tax on their benefits because their benefits are low enough to be exempt.

State Sen. Ann Rest has proposed an alternative bill that would double the current subtraction for Social Security benefits to $11,000 (in addition to the standard deduction). Under her plan, the vast majority of seniors would be exempt from paying any state tax on their Social Security benefits, and it would only reduce state revenues by about $90 million (versus a whopping $600 million for full repeal) by state fiscal year 2025.

AARP Minnesota has spoken in favor of a partial repeal, but not a full repeal, to benefit middle income seniors yet still protect crucial funding for services that many seniors depend on.

As a person from an agrarian background, I’m well-acquainted with many hard-working Minnesotans, and some of them didn’t have two nickels to rub together to show for their hard work when they retired. My grandmother received a pittance for Social Security. What did she ever do, besides work all day rearing seven children on a dairy farm, raising chickens, serving her church, and keeping her family and community functioning?

“Work your fingers to the bone,

Whadda ya get? 

Boney fingers!” 

Hoyt Axton’s tune was catchy, and it was also our truth. My grandmother’s story was etched on her hands. She may have had meager Social Security benefits, but she deserved whatever senior services she got. And then some.

Dornink and Bennett fail to honor the hard work of people like my grandmother, who persevered through many hardships and had little to leave to her children but memories and needlework.

When the Republicans whom we elected to the Legislature show you they’re looking out for the most affluent seniors, and they care less about services that benefit all seniors, believe them. 

As for the new Iowa tax cuts that Bennett referenced in her column last week, they are another giveaway to the rich. According to the Institution on Taxation and Economic Policy, the top fifth of income earners will get 76% of the benefits.

Iowa has been cutting taxes for decades, and all it has to show for it is a brain drain. In 1940, Minnesota had about 200,000 more people than Iowa. Today, Minnesota has 2.4 million more people than its neighbor.

Why? Minnesota invests in its people, and it does so with a fairer tax base. This is our path to innovation, economic growth and high quality of life.

Iowa’s impending revenue shortfall is not the direction we want Minnesota to go if we desire widely shared prosperity. Before its latest round of ill-conceived tax cuts, Iowa was already underfunding its education, child care, and water quality protection programs. Its new tax cuts will only compound these shortcomings.

Minnesota’s budget surplus is an opportunity to fund priorities like Albert Lea’s new water treatment plant, remediating contamination in rural water wells (one in five Minnesotans have private wells), building EV charging stations including at state rest stops, weatherizing our public and private buildings, expanding our wind and solar capacity, and many other infrastructure and climate resilience projects. 

We also need better funding for mental health care and child care, and, like Rep. Bennett said, long-term care and in-home care. These are items we should prioritize over permanent tax breaks.

Finally, Sen. Dornink wrote about the 23,000 open positions in long-term care. The Republican Party and its propaganda arm, Fox News, often frame immigration from Mexico and Central America as an “invasion.” Numerous Republican politicians even compared Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine to individual immigrants crossing the U.S.’s southern border. The depravity of this illogical comparison is emblematic of the party’s larger shift from conservatism to cruelty.

A good reason to ignore scare tactics about immigration is that immigrants work disproportionately in the service industry, including in longterm healthcare and in-home health services that help people age in place. Higher levels of immigration is correlated with both people living in their homes longer and also better quality long term care. 

We need the caregiving workforce to dramatically expand as the leading edge of the Baby Boom generation turns 80 in just a few years. Minnesota needs immigrants.

We all need fairness, compassion and widespread opportunity. We need a return to DFL representation.

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson is a member of the Freeborn County DFL Party.