A program that has been taking from the middle class and giving to the rich…

Rising impatience in tax-rich Twin Cities suburbs over a regional program that takes millions from their budgets and awards it to less affluent communities will result this week in the most intense official scrutiny  the plan has ever received.

…for decades, incliuding a bunch of decades where the DFL and Strib-friendly “Moderate” Republicans controlled every facet of government…

A state report due out within days will examine whether the 40-year-old program known as “fiscal disparities,” which quietly shifts $500 million in tax base from one community to the next, is doing what it was designed to.

While some poor communities call the program a lifeline, critics say it artificially props up tiny towns such as Landfall in Washington County and pulls large sums out of increasingly distressed suburbs, while lavishing millions upon affluent communities at the urban fringe.

…as conservatives railed against it…

is finally getting a long, hard look by the Strib.

Now that the GOP runs things.

No, nothing untoward there.  Really.