The good news: Minnesota’s new paid family leave law will cost 25% more than originally budgeted:
Minnesota’s new paid family and medical leave program will launch in 2026 with a 25% higher payroll tax than originally anticipated when the bill was passed last session, an assistant commissioner with the Department of Employment and Economic Development told lawmakers on Monday.
Because DEED has been given legislative authority to raise the tax, the agency can do so without requiring a new law.
“Wait, Mitch – I thought you said that was the good news?”
I did.
The bad news? The program doesn’t start until 2026. Like the Southwest LIght Rail and every other DFL spending boondoggle, this program is going to get more expensive before anyone ends up using it.
And in typical Democrat fashion, the tax starts right after the next election, so it’s not part of the electoral equation for most people, and as far from the following election as possible, so it’s as small a part of that electoral equation as possible, with the “benefits” kicking in during the actual election year.
I’m almost surprised that they Senate didn’t insist on pushing it out past their 2026 re-elections to further minimize electoral backlash.
It appears that the “actuaries” they hired didn’t actually calculate the cost of the paid medical leave, but just the parental leave. I got awfully close to parental leave costs simply by spreading the costs among the 65,000 kids or so born in the state annually. Great job, guys. It also seems that either there is no provision for the fact that new mothers and fathers tend to be on the lower end of the pay scale, or the overhead costs of the program are huge.
Oopsie. We had to pass the bill to find out what was in it.