    New Year Year’s Day brought new laws or changes under old laws in most states, including Nebraska, Wyoming, and South Dakota.
Nebraska and South Dakota were among 23 states with minimum wage increases. Nebraska voters in November approved an increase to $15 per hour in 2026 that began yesterday with a $1.50 increase to $9.50 an hour.
      South Dakota’s minimum wage went up from $9.95 to $10.80 an hour, a cost-of-living increase under a 2016 state law. The minimum wage for servers, bartenders, and other tipped employees in South Dakota rose a little over 40-cents to $5.40 per hour.
     Income tax cuts took effect in a dozen states including Nebraska while Wyoming is now collecting taxes more quickly on production of coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium.
Producers used to have up to 18 months after extraction to pay, but those taxes are now due monthly. The change came after some counties had difficulty collecting millions of dollars owed by coal companies that went bankrupt.
The Nebraska minimum wage is now $10.50, not $9.50 as stated in your news article.
When wages go up without an increase in productivity the price of everything goes up.
Imagine living off $10.50 an hour. This $0.50 more than what McDonald’s in Chadron was paying. Drive to Valentine and they are getting paid $15 an hour. Minimum wage
Just so we’re clear, no one can start a family, buy a home, or lead a happy life free from financial stress on $10.50 an hour. I was living on $10 an hour in Chadron back in 2019. I can’t imagine living on $10.50 an hour in 2023.
Gen Z is a much more left-leaning group than my generation, and the Reagan-voters are steadily trickling down to the great beyond. Here’s hoping the kids put up a good fight in years to come. This country CAN be run by the people and for the people, not the wealthy elite who insist on paying our essential workers a minimum wage.