Chairwoman Linehan and members of the Revenue Committee, my name is Jim Smith, and I am the Chief Strategy Officer of the Platte Institute. Thank you for scheduling this hearing to examine the structure of Nebraska’s tax system and for your ongoing efforts to improve the State’s tax environment and competitive standing. As a Blueprint...
For 2021, the Nebraska Legislature increased funding for the Property Tax Credit Fund by $25 million, to a total of $300 million. The state distributes the money from the fund to local taxing subdivisions. Then, your county treasurer credits your property tax bill based on your valuation. However, it has no bearing on how much...
Nebraska August tax revenues have been reported by the Department of Revenue, and the result continues to be positive, as all tax types are posting above forecast figures. For the month of August, net revenues were 9% above forecast, or in excess by $46 million. Personal income tax collections for the month posted double-digit percentages...
Tax attorney Tom Yamachika of the Tax Foundation of Hawaii explains how the types of taxes states have, or the way they are designed, can cause states to lose revenue or to impose higher tax rates than necessary. A transcript of the discussion can be found below. You can watch the video on YouTube or listen to...
In our last episode, we discussed some of the practical and economic reasons why Nebraska should eliminate more of its sales tax exemptions. Now, let’s talk about crafting a vision for a better tax system, and how modernizing the sales tax fits into any plan to make bold changes in our state. You can watch...
Blueprint Nebraska, a campaign dedicated to increasing Nebraska’s economic growth and competitiveness over the next decade, has released its proposed framework for bringing Nebraska’s tax system into the 21st century. Blueprint Nebraska’s Taxation & Incentives Industry Council took insights from surveys, public forums, and tax policy research to develop a plan that gives Nebraska a...
Nebraska state government just posted its first revenue report for the new 2021-2022 fiscal year and the results are positive. Net revenues for the month of July were above the forecasted amount by 3.2% or $10 million. All major tax sources posted collections ahead of projections except for the personal income tax, which was 26.5%...
It’s budget time for Nebraska local governments, and that’s when members of the public get to attend local hearings to share their comments regarding the spending plan of their communities. Two local governments in Nebraska have recently announced their budget and held their public hearings on their spending plans: the City of Omaha and Douglas...
Most people take for granted that the sales tax is the tax we pay when we buy things. But if you look carefully at your receipts, you’ll begin to notice most of the things you buy in Nebraska don’t have sales tax collected on them. This is also known as a sales tax exemption. On...
The Nebraska Department of Revenue has released the June 2021 state tax revenue report. This report is especially important because it includes figures for the last month of the fiscal year, which runs July 1 to June 30. For the month of June, all major tax categories were above the forecasted amount for both gross...
The Nebraska Department of Revenue tracks historical property valuations for each of Nebraska’s 93 counties. Overall, there are three major categories of property that are tracked: residential, commercial, and agricultural. All three experienced growth over the last decade. Most notably, agriculture valuations grew almost twice as much as residential property values. The interactive maps below...
Every state has a peer group they look to. Typically, it includes neighboring states. In Nebraska’s case, Missouri is a comparable peer. Some of the attributes we might look at are Missouri’s similar agricultural economy, but also their much lower property taxes. But when it comes to economics and growth, even states that are not...
Starting today, Nebraskans will be paying slightly less tax on a gallon of gas. Every six months, the state Department of Revenue reevaluates the motor fuel tax. The overall gas tax is decreasing from 28.7 cents per gallon to 27.7 cents per gallon. This comes after a 4.5 cent decline at the beginning of the...
Update: On November 13, 2021, Louisiana voters approved Amendment 2, adopting the proposed income tax reduction. Traditionally, Louisiana has severely lagged behind other states in the area of tax policy, consistently ranking in the bottom ten states on the Tax Foundation’s State Business Tax Climate Index. However, Louisiana’s state legislature recently passed an impressive tax...