Feb 27, 2023

But an apples-to-apples comparison between November and February would show that the state surplus actually grew to $19 billion, due to higher-than-forecast collections of individual income taxes and corporate franchise taxes and the impact of those improvements going forward. Minnesota State Capitol 37 mins ago Minnesota’s budget office reported Monday that the state’s record-breaking surplus is slightly less record-breaking than it was in November — that the previous surplus of $17.6 billion is now only $17.5 billion. But that would not be an accurate picture of what the updated economic and revenue forecast will reveal when the entire report is released later Monday. An apples-to-apples comparison between November and today would show that the state surplus actually grew to $19 billion, due to higher-than-forecast collections of individual income taxes and corporate franchise taxes and the impact of those improvements going forward. But because the DFL-controlled Legislature passed a bill last week to show inflationary impacts differently — moving them from an item at the end of the forecast documents into the program-by-program spending totals — the surplus is shown lower than it would have been before this law change. Article continues after advertisement In addition, the Legislature has appropriated more than $100 million in spending on a bill to align state tax code with changes in the federal code and to provide additional criminal prosecutors to the state attorney general. In a toplines release Monday morning, the Minnesota Management and Budget office described state finances as stable, while at the same time reporting the more-robust-than-expected tax collections. Those have been hinted at since the November forecast with actual money-in-the-bank collections increasing by $487 million in just two months. Also in January, the state’s macroeconomic consultant — IHS Markit — upgraded its projections of economic growth over the period covered by this new state forecast. Combined, the forecast was likely to reflect higher-than-last predicted tax collections. The state spends about $2.1 billion a month from its general fund. In addition to any surpluses, the state has a fully topped off rainy day savings account totaling $2.65 billion. Keep Minnesota news paywall-free. MinnPost's in-depth, independent news is free for all to access — no paywall or subscriptions. Will you help us keep it this way by supporting our nonprofit newsroom with a tax-deductible donation today? Get MinnPost in your email inbox: Sign up Feb. 23, 2023 MinnPost Recommends is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom Support MinnPost’s nonprofit journalism Member donations are crucial to the work of our nonprofit newsroom. Our reporters are only able to do their work thanks to support at all levels. Donations made by check can be made out to MinnPost and mailed to us at PO Box 18438, Minneapolis, MN 55418. &dollar; * Please read before republishing * We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an  Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license  as long as you follow our  republishing guidelines . See our full republication guidelines for more information. To republish, copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to MinnPost. If you have questions, email  editors@minnpost.com . — The Editors By Peter Callaghan | Staff Writer 37 mins ago <h1>State economists: Minnesota finances stable with record-breaking surplus intact</h1><p class="a-entry-byline">By <span class="a-entry-author">Peter Callaghan</span> | <span class="a-entry-author-job-title">Staff Writer</span></p><p class="a-entry-date">37 mins ago</p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400">Minnesota’s budget office <a href="https://mn.gov/mmb-stat/000/az/forecast/2023/revenue-and-economic-update/january.pdf">reported Monday</a> that the state’s record-breaking surplus is slightly less record-breaking than it was in November — that the previous surplus of $17.6 billion is now </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400">only </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400">$17.5 billion</span><i><span style="font-weight: 400">.</span></i></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400">But that would not be an accurate picture of what the updated economic and revenue forecast will reveal when the entire report is released later Monday.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400">An apples-to-apples comparison between November and today would show that the state surplus actually grew to $19 billion, due to higher-than-forecast collections of individual income taxes and corporate franchise taxes and the impact of those improvements going forward.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400">But because the DFL-controlled Legislature passed a bill last week to show inflationary impacts differently — moving them from an item at the end of the forecast documents into the program-by-program spending totals — the surplus is shown lower than it would have been before this law change. </span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400">In addition, the Legislature has appropriated more than $100 million in spending on a bill to align state tax code with changes in the federal code and to provide additional criminal prosecutors to the state attorney general.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400">In a toplines release Monday morning, the Minnesota Management and Budget office described state finances as stable, while at the same time reporting the more-robust-than-expected tax collections. Those have been hinted at since the November forecast with actual money-in-the-bank collections increasing by $487 million in just two months.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400">Also in January, the state’s macroeconomic consultant — IHS Markit — </span><a href="https://mn.gov/mmb-stat/000/az/forecast/2023/revenue-and-economic-update/january.pdf"><span style="font-weight: 400">upgraded its projections</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> of economic growth over the period covered by this new state forecast.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400">Combined, the forecast was likely to reflect higher-than-last predicted tax collections.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400">The state spends about $2.1 billion a month from its general fund. In addition to any surpluses, the state has a fully topped off rainy day savings account totaling $2.65 billion.</span></p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://www.minnpost.com/state-government/2023/02/state-economists-minnesota-finances-stable-with-record-breaking-surplus-intact/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.minnpost.com">MinnPost</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://www.minnpost.com/?republication-pixel=true&post=2111805&ga=UA-3385191-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy HTML