City & District Info on Potential Special Session LGA

by | Sep 19, 2016

Last week, North Star discussed potential outcomes in regard to city Local Government Aid (LGA) if there is and if there is not a 2016 special session. If there is no special session, city LGA in 2017 will be distributed under current law. For most cities, this will...

Robust Income Growth in 2015

by | Sep 16, 2016

The U.S. Census Bureau released 2015 household income information this week and the news—for the most part—was positive. Real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) income increased by the largest annual rate since the Great Recession, both nationally and in Minnesota....

Mid-Week Reads: Merkel and Minnesotans' Income

by | Sep 15, 2016

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 Merkel’s Mettle The current world leader that I admire above all others is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Merkel has risked her...

Local Government Aid During a Potential Special Session

by | Sep 13, 2016

An August North Star article described the main effect of no 2016 special session: a larger state budget reserve. The same article noted some of the likely effects if there is a special session, including “an increase in state assistance to local governments.” With...

Income Inequality on Steroids: The Top of the Top 1%

by | Sep 9, 2016

Minnesota is no exception to the national trend of rising income inequality. Previous installments in this series have shown the concentration of income at the top of Minnesota’s income spectrum and the growing gap between the top one percent and middle-income...

Rich Get Richer, Middle Class Not So Lucky

by | Sep 6, 2016

The growing income gap between the top one percent and the less well-off has been documented many times, most recently in two North Star articles. The first of these articles used data from Minnesota Tax Incidence Studies (MTIS) spanning the last quarter century to...

Mid-Week Reads: Minnesota's Economy and Colin Kaepernick

by | Aug 31, 2016

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 The Center of the American Experiment Report on Minnesota’s Economy? It’s Politics, Not Economics. Saint John’s...

Growing Income Gap Between the Top and the Middle

by | Aug 31, 2016

Information from the biennial Minnesota Tax Incidence Study (MTIS) confirms in greater detail what was already known in a broad sense—income inequality in Minnesota is increasing over time. Using data from the thirteen published Incidence Studies, part 1 of this...

A Closer Look at Growing Income Inequality

by | Aug 29, 2016

Increasing income inequality is not only offensive from a fairness perspective, but is also a persistent cause of lackluster economic growth. Last month, a North Star article documented the growing extent of income inequality in Minnesota. Data from the long series of...

Higher Wages Needed to Meet Basic Needs

by | Aug 25, 2016

Many Minnesota jobs do not pay enough to meet the basic needs of a typical Minnesota family, according to data from the “Minnesota Cost of Living Study Annual Report 2016” prepared by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). In fact,...