New property tax legislation will not help national ranking
The 13th edition of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s national ranking of states was released, and Nebraska ranks 19th out of 50 on economic performance. (1 = best, 50 = worst)
You might be asking yourself; how do they measure economic performance? Well, it looks backwards on how the state has performed in three different areas over the past few years: state gross domestic product, domestic migration, and non-farm employment.
And while the state seems OK on a national perspective, it is concerning to see that the economic outlook ranking is 36th out of 50. This is the lowest ranking the state has received on its economic outlook since 2013. Why is that?
Well, you guessed it – high taxes give us that ranking. Things like our high property tax burden, high income tax, and then having an inheritance tax hinders Nebraska’s ranking for economic competitiveness.
And if you think the legislature’s enactment of LB1107, creating more property tax relief, will help our ranking in the future – you are sadly mistaken. LB1107 only provides a credit for property taxes paid. It does not actually reduce the property tax burden.
So, while levies and valuations continue to rise, our state property tax ranking on these types of analysis will continue to be a negative for Nebraska.
Please note, the number of public employees’ statistic is skewed because Nebraska is the only state in the nation to have public power.