Currently, Minnesota is one of eighteen states that imposes state inheritance or estate taxes in addition to the federal estate tax. The Republican majority in the Minnesota legislature recently passed a budget that increased the estate tax exemption from the current $1.8 million level to $2.1 million for 2017. This change is retroactive to January 1, 2017. The budget calls for the exemptions to increase in increments, reaching $3 million by 2020. The Democrat Governor Mark Dayton expressed his concerns to the legislature in a letter to the Speaker of the House. Dayton noted that the budget affects only the wealthiest estates in Minnesota and argues that such a provision defeats the purpose of the progressive tax and relieves these affluent of their burden to pay their fair share of taxes. While Dayton is asking legislators to cancel the proposed increases, the possibility of acquiescence is unlikely.
See Ashlea Ebeling, Minnesota Weakens Estate Tax Retroactive to January 1, Forbes, May 31, 2017.
Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
