Wendell Anderson pulls off the ‘Minnesota Miracle’

Wendell Anderson a Democratic Farmer Labor Party DFL governor elected at age campaigned in on a promise to reduce school-district property taxes That promise resulted in the Minnesota Miracle He faced a legislature controlled by Conservatives and his plan to overhaul property taxes urged for a increase in state spending It took the longest special legislative session in state history but he fulfilled the promise Anderson s initiative raised income and sales taxes and he became one of the most of popular governors in Minnesota history In Minnesota had independent residents school districts all of them mostly dependent on local property taxes This led to vast differences in taxation and per-student spending One paradoxical outcome was that the richest districts like Edina had both the lowest tax rates and the highest per-pupil spending The poorest districts endured just the opposite Several districts had raised their rates by double digits year after year in the s Anderson a state senator of St Paul was just one of numerous legislators who saw that the system needed modification and that it might be a winning political issue He got the DFL nomination for governor and campaigned around the state for school tax improvement specifically for the state to assume much more of school costs This would reduce the property tax burdens in almost every district but require higher state tax rates At the same time the non-partisan Citizens League issued a statement supporting the partial state school-finance takeover At a gubernatorial debate Anderson endorsed the league s assessment while Republican nominee Douglas Head rejected it calling Anderson Spendy Wendy Anderson defeated Head to In January of when he took office Anderson faced a legislature narrowly controlled by Conservatives - in the House - in the Senate But school tax reorganization had crucial allies on the Conservative side notably Senate Majority Leader Stanley Holmquist The issue was complex both technically and politically Voters who longed property tax reductions had to be sold on income tax increases Conservatives and Liberals worked on competing plans throughout the legislative session but no agreement was reached Anderson then called a special session that went on all summer It produced a bill which Anderson vetoed not enough money and not enough structural change But the effort wasn t over Rather than call another special session Anderson arranged for the key players from both caucuses to meet in private at the governor s residence on Summit Avenue in St Paul The governor rarely participated but he made his requirements clear and in the end he got almost everything he sought with substantial bipartisan endorsement The state took of local school costs and local tax rates were restricted within limits All but a handful of school districts saw reductions in property tax rates while Minnesota taxpayers as a whole saw their burden rise by million and the state budget increase by The reforms came to be known as the Minnesota Miracle a set of laws comprising the tax changes as well as the Minnesota Fiscal Disparities Act of which set up a tax-base-sharing scheme In his reelection bid three years later Anderson carried all eighty-seven of Minnesota s counties a feat not accomplished before or since Editor s note Between and Minnesota legislators did not identify themselves with a party when they caucused or campaigned Members of the Democratic Farmer Labor party formally identified as Liberals and their Republican counterparts identified as Conservatives This article reflects that terminology The post Wendell Anderson pulls off the Minnesota Miracle appeared first on MinnPost