State Business Property Tax by Legislative District

The 2015 House Tax Bill proposed to phase-out the state business property tax, ultimately eliminating the tax by 2022. A recent North Star article revealed that approximately two-thirds of the property tax relief resulting from the elimination of the state business...

Senate Targets Divide Surplus Between Tax Cuts & Spending

At a Wednesday press conference, Senate DFL leadership unveiled their budget targets for the 2016 legislative session, which “includes $300 million for an updated version of last session’s tax bill and $489 million in other spending, much of it one-time.” The proposed...

City LGA: A Shrinking Slice of the Budget Pie

Local Government Aid (LGA) has been a mainstay of city finances since its inception in 1972. In fact, many small, low tax base communities receive more in LGA than they collect in property taxes. That being the case, LGA is a perennial hot topic at the state capitol....

Mid-Week Reads: Libertarianism and Carli Lloyd

Every week, North Star will take some time out of our schedules to bring you our favorite reads from the past week. Jeff Van Wychen Libertarianism’s Iron Cage: From Ayn Rand to Rand Paul This article is the best exposition of libertarianism that I’ve ever...

Equal Pay Day and Student Loans

Today is Equal Pay Day, the day when women’s earnings “catch up” to men’s earnings from the previous year. In other words, it takes a woman from January 1, 2015 to April 12, 2016 to earn the same as a man earns in 2015. Women, in 2016, make...