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Can Minnesota and Wisconsin reunite?
By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger
Lawmakers from Wisconsin and Minnesota joined together today to say: Can't we all just get along?
At issue, a long standing tax reciprocity program that allowed Minnesotans working in Wisconsin and Wisconsinites working in Minnesota to file taxes in just one state. Minnesota killed the program last month because it couldn't come up with a deal to make Wisconsin pay Minnesota more quickly for the income tax it collects.
From our story on the break-up last month:
Because more than twice as many Wisconsin residents cross the border for work, Wisconsin reimburses Minnesota for income tax it collects from Minnesota workers. But those payments arrive about 17 months after they're collected, a lag that has long frustrated Minnesota politicians.
...
(Minnesota) will...see tax revenue more quickly because it will be paid directly starting in January 2010. That means it can bank on an extra $43 million for next year's budget and an extra $88 million in 2011.
Wisconsin and Minnesota officials negotiated for weeks to try to keep the program alive but had irreconcilable differences.
The divorce isn't making some lawmakers happy.
Rep. Roger Reinert, DFL-Duluth, met with lawmakers from Wisconsin to try to figure out how to get the marriage on the mend.
"Nobody wins if we sit back and just let this 40-plus year agreement end," he said in a news release.
Part of the lawmakers solution? They're going to write a joint letter to both governors, "encouraging their return to the negotiating table."
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