Since the start of the pandemic, Americans have wondered when the job market would return to normal. For Nebraska, that time may be now. The Nebraska Department of Labor announced Friday that the state’s unemployment rate currently sits at 4%. That figure is not only the lowest in Nebraska since the beginning of the pandemic...
Sarah Curry joined KGFW’s Talk of the Town to discuss her new report, which reviews the transparency of the state’s tracking website for COVID-19 relief funds. Read the full report here.
Nebraska’s state budget is growing, but what area of spending is the largest and growing the fastest? Contrary to what many believe, K-12 education is not the largest expenditure in state government. Health and human services and higher education are larger state spending areas, with the state Department of Education coming in behind these two categories....
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit our nation, Congress reacted by enacting a historic $2 trillion spending plan to keep our nation from falling into financial ruin. In total, there have been four pieces[1] of federal legislation enacted with the intent to help individuals and states combat the health and economic crisis that occurred, of which...
Nebraska’s $275 million property tax credit program is expected to be worth a little less to property owners when they pay their 2020 tax bills. The Nebraska Department of Revenue has released its annual calculation for how much credit taxpayers will receive from the state’s current property tax relief program. For the 2020 tax year,...
The report for August 2020 state General Fund tax revenues was released today, September 15, and the state looks to be recovering from the recession we entered just a few months ago. According to the Nebraska Department of Revenue, the actual tax revenues are 6.4% higher for the fiscal year than projected by the state’s...
Excessive regulations have harmful effects on prosperity and growth. In many cases, the compliance costs of these regulations constitute a hidden tax on businesses and citizens, costing valuable resources that could be contributing to Nebraska’s economic growth. Regulation is a necessity of our society, and we should not get rid of all regulations. But Nebraska...
An annual assessment of state manufacturing and logistics industries by the Ball State University Center for Business and Economic Research finds that Nebraska ranks average among its peers, though the scorecard also notes Nebraska’s people and strong finances are advantages for its manufacturing potential. While the 2020 Manufacturing Scorecard does not give Nebraska a single...
Restaurants in the City of Omaha have received some good news. On September 3, Mayor Jean Stothert announced that the city’s Finance Department has been directed to forgive late fees on restaurant tax payments due from March through the end of 2020. Nebraska’s first positive COVID-19 case hit the Omaha metro on March 6. As...
There are only six states in the nation that levy an inheritance tax, and Nebraska is one of them. In fact, Nebraska has the highest top rate at 18%. According to a local law firm, “When a person dies a resident of Nebraska or with property located in Nebraska, the Nebraska county inheritance tax will...
A tweet by The Omaha World-Herald’s Lincoln Bureau Chief Paul Hammel compares the latest average property tax rates between states and makes reference to a piece of conventional tax wisdom that often goes unquestioned. NE ranks No. 8 in the U.S. for highest property taxes by @TaxFoundation today as measured as a percentage of owner-occupied...
Nebraska’s 2020 legislative session ended on August 13. In looking through the multiple occupational licensing reform bills that were signed into law just this year, Laura Ebke and I couldn’t help but notice how great of an impact the Platte Institute’s campaign for job licensing reform has had since we first supported a bill eliminating the...
If you’ve traveled into an airport of any size in the last few years, the chances are that as you waited for a cab or airport shuttle, you’ve also seen lines of Ubers or Lyfts—vehicles and drivers part of the “ridesharing” economy. Or perhaps you’ve learned to use these services to get where you need...