Renters Rebate
Minnesota has two property tax refund programs. The homeowners refund and the renters refund. You can print out the forms to file at www.taxes.state.mn.us The checks are mailed out mid-August every year. If you are a renter there is a form you get in January, usually ‘a certificate of rent paid’, this is to file for the renters refund. There are 300 million renters that will be affected by the refund amount. Your everyday renter is affected it’s not just the rich or well off it’s everyone. The nice thing is that Minnesota offers a refund based on property taxes that renter pay. The state used to assume about 19% of rent payments went toward property taxes and used that number, income to determine the refund someone was eligible to receive. Senator Rick Olseen bluntly described the new changes to the rebate. “The state will assume that 15% of rent goes to property taxes. That delivered a $51 million cut to the renter’s rebate program. According to the Department of Revenue, there are 304,900 renter refund filers, and the average refund used to be $570. With the unallotment, the average refund will be reduced by $129”.
Renters such as Sheri Wells and Nicole Luzaich, look forward to the extra income. Nicole said “I use the money to catch up on bills, and family activities”. Renter Liz Haller is happy with any extra money the state wants to send her way. Liz Haller said, “I will just make do with whatever money I do get back”. We can all take a different view on the cut; the truth of the matter is that our state is facing a 426 million dollar budget deficit. The budget cuts should help. The renters rebate is one of many budget cuts.
Last summer Governor Tim Pawlenty revised the amount renters will be receiving. He had to make some cuts and the renters rebate was part of the budget cuts. This will be 1.2 Million dollars, over a 3 year period. There is a controversy we can’t put our hands on. returnmyrebate.com/ announced that Pawlenty and the GOP (republican Party) stole money from renters. Alliance for a better Minnesota feels the same way. Digging a little deeper www.minnesota.publicradio.org/ wrote that ‘Governor Tim Pawlenty says he will reduce state aid payments to cities and counties by $110 million to help solve a short-term budget problem’.
Democratic State Senator Rick Olseen from district 17 had also said, “Palenty made the decision on his own after the legislative term, so it wasn’t a tough decision. The state used to assume about 19% of rent payments went toward property taxes and used that number, along with total rent paid and a renter’s income, to determine the refund someone was eligible to receive. The new formula changes that percentage to 15%. That delivered a $51 million cut to the renter’s rebate program. According to the Department of Revenue, there are 304,900 renter refund filers, and the average refund used to be $570. With the unallotment, the average refund will be reduced by $129.
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Good, but there can't be 300 million Minnesotans eligible for refunds since there are only five million residents living in the state. It was also be good to add links to this post taking us to webpages explaining the refund, or state sites where you can download forms, etc.
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