Minnesota Manufacturers Optimistic

A recent survey shows that “Minnesota’s manufacturers are feeling remarkable levels of across-the-board confidence in the financial prospects for their companies in 2016,” despite growing uneasiness about the U.S. economy. Concerns among manufacturers about the impact...

The High Cost of Fully Exempting Social Security Benefits

Fully exempting Social Security from the state income tax will result in a rapidly escalating state revenue loss and will have consequences that violate several principles of good tax policy. These and other aspects of plans to exempt all Social Security benefits were...

Impact of State Aid on 2016 Property Taxes

Total property taxes in Minnesota increased by 4.7 percent from 2015 to 2016, exceeding the combined rate of inflation and population growth, with county property taxes increasing by 3.4 percent, city property taxes increasing by 4.5 percent, and school property taxes...

Mid-Week Reads: Voter Suppression and Racial Economic Disparities

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 Stop Voter Suppression Economist and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich neatly highlights various forms of voter suppression...