Gov Walz in Rochester: tax check proposal not a “gimmick, ” says “call them what you want to”

Governor Tim Walz in Rochester today defended his proposal for one-time payout checks to Minnesotans. Walz wants to distribute so-called “Walz Checks”–payments of $500 to tax filers 18 and over and $1,000 for married couples. With a nine-billion-dollar state surplus, Republican leaders say Minnesotans have been overtaxed, but Walz counters, “we do not have a surplus because taxes went down over the last three years, there were no taxes raised, so the argument is when you have a stimulus because you overtaxed on this the question would be spending habits change and state government spending actually went down during this time, some of it intentionally some of it due to COVID.” “Walz Checks” have been called a “gimmick” by state Republicans who are proposing more permanent tax cuts for Minnesotans. Walz says, “I don’t know the gimmick thing about this…I don’t think people getting the money back would view it as a gimmick. It’s really interesting because the call last year when this surplus started showing up was…the call from Senate GOP was give the money back.” Walz says more than 2.7 million Minnesota households would receive a Walz Check under his proposal. The checks, so far, are not part of the House DFL or Senate GOP budget plans this session.