The federal One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) creates the opportunity for Nebraska to adopt the most “America First” tax reform: full expensing. In an era of reshoring and friend-shoring critical supply chains, full expensing is the tax reform that properly defines “income” and incentivizes production in the U.S.A. Full expensing is the policy of allowing...
Elections occur every other November. But taxpayers vote with their feet every day, and these votes should be counted and tallied just like the votes for a November election. A “Great Pandemic Wealth Migration” began when the coronavirus pandemic caused Americans to move to work-from-home employment. This meant workers were no longer tied to aphysical...
Nebraska’s property taxes have risen to fourth highest in the United States, according to a 2025 study from the Tax Foundation using 2023 tax data. Illinois (1.83%) has the highest taxes as a share of home value, followed closely by New Jersey (1.77%). Following New Jersey is Connecticut (1.48%) which is only slightly higher than...
Nebraska’s Truth-in-Taxation season brings surprises each year, shining a light on local government tax increases. That’s because Nebraska’s Truth-in-Taxation law requires local governments to notify property owners of proposed tax increases as a prelude to public hearings about the tax proposals. Residents of Omaha were hit with another set of unsustainable tax increases in 2025, as...
Utah passed the nation’s first Truth-in-Taxation (TNT) law in 1985, giving the Beehive State 40 years to refine and finesse their property tax program. Nebraska has adopted a similar law which can be improved by adjusting the schedule for when Truth-in-Taxation hearings occur so that the TNT process precedes budget adoption. Utah’s tax transparency procedure...
Nebraska lawmakers can deliver stronger transparency and greater tax relief by consolidating and tightening Nebraska’s property tax caps. Nebraska has both a Truth-In-Taxation (TNT) transparency law and property tax caps for K-12 school districts and then separate caps for all other local governments. By comparison, several less-fiscally-responsible states impose more strict property tax caps. Nebraska...
Nebraska’s education funding has historically been heavily weighted on the property tax, but that is beginning to change. Through new sources of funding and property tax offsets, the implicit state funding of education is growing rapidly. Over the last decade, state aid through the TEEOSA formula has increased by $200 million. Meanwhile, property tax funding...
Property tax relief is always top of the agenda in Lincoln, as Nebraskans struggle under the weight of one of the nation’s heaviest property tax burdens. Nebraska should target two taxes to take off the rolls, and two technical changes to restructure the property tax system to deliver better relief. Currently, Nebraska puts $1 billion...
Texas Governor Greg Abbott called lawmakers back for a special session to address Texas’ property tax burden. In his special session proclamation, Abbott has asked lawmakers to focus on two complementary items. The first is allocating more state money to reduce property taxes, and the second is to impose more strict spending restraints on local...
President Trump’s second term will be remembered for the rapid re-ordering of global supply chains. Trump’s tariffs target the reshoring of industrial production, and his tax plan in the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) provides massive tax incentives to make capital expenditures in the United States. Nebraska has an opportunity to put itself at the...
The One Big Beautiful Bill introduces sweeping changes to federal fiscal policy that will have tangible impacts on the state of Nebraska. Policymakers must choose which provisions to adopt of the federal law and which to defer. These decisions will have significant budgetary and growth implications for Nebraska. On the tax side, the OBBB makes...
Federal fiscal reform will have layers of impact upon states like Nebraska. From taxes to tariffs to entitlements, the highly touted “Big Beautiful Bill” will preserve some elements of America’s fiscal formula while reforming others. Nebraska lawmakers ought to keep an eye on the relevant options on the table and be prepared to respond appropriately. ...
Platte Institute’s proposal to address the state’s $262 budget gap is to freeze the growth in two tax credit programs. The two-year freeze would yield $162 million in budget savings which, coupled with a $100 million draw down on the state’s rainy-day fund, would fix the issue for the current budget. Going forward, lawmakers should...
Last week, Nebraska’s forecasting board revised its projections, and the news wasn’t good. State revenues continue to fall short of expectations, and lawmakers now face an even larger budget gap than they did just weeks ago. If you caught my email last week, you’ll remember we cautioned against oversteering. That message remains just as relevant...