This brief article crossed my path on Sunday afternoon. Officials in a southeast Nebraska county are considering a change to their local wind-energy regulations at the request of a group that opposes the growing presence of wind farms in rural areas. Gage County’s Board of Supervisors will hold a meeting next month to discuss the...
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.” A lot of us remember that from our childhood, a part of a “proverb” of sorts that elementary students used to hear quite frequently at some point in time, and which came down to the children and grandchildren who had heard it in school. That came...
This story just came through on my news alerts, and while this doesn’t relate directly to Nebraska politics, truth be told, any action or inaction by the federal government has implications for both the state government, and Nebraska taxpayers. When I was in the Legislature–maybe in the first year–one of the more experienced legislators got...
It seems we have an answer to my previous question about sales tax exemptions and their part (if any) in the Revenue Committee’s 2020 legislative property tax proposal. So far, it looks like the committee won’t be including a proposal to remove sales tax exemptions right off the bat, instead relying on currently projected increases...
One of the main currents in occupational licensing adjustments that we’ve seen over the last five years or so, is an effort to make it easier for military members–and their spouses–to move across jurisdictions and still be able to work in an area they’ve trained in. The most recent example I’ve seen (and the trigger...
I saw this article and thought it was interesting. Not trying to get on the renewable energy bandwagon, but we all knew at some point these were going to have to be disposed of when no longer operational. I found it most interesting they are sent to Wyoming because it is the only landfill in...
LB299 is already helping us have a more informed discussion about job licensing.
News from Lincoln tells us that the Revenue Committee has agreed on an approach to the property tax problem in Nebraska. “…a multi-year plan to address high property taxes should first target help for farmers and ranchers, with a particular emphasis on relief in school districts with high property tax levies…” As of right now,...
A report from the Kansas City Federal Reserve late last week highlighted the findings from the Tenth District Survey of Agricultural Credit Conditions where farm income in the region continued to decline. “Farm income decreased from a year ago across all states in the region, with some variation in the pace of decline. Compared with...
Iowa now has legal sports betting at its casinos. How much revenue are they bringing in?
It is important to note from October’s revenue report that corporate income taxes are way above their forecast amount. This is because this tax is unreliable and could very easily be below forecast in the upcoming months. Another thing to point out is that all these tax revenues are above forecast, which means the state...
Lots of discussions around Nebraska’s property tax problem have stemmed from the way we fund public education. Missouri, even though they have much lower property taxes, are also tackling how they fund public education. In lieu of the property tax discussions being had in the Nebraska Revenue Committee, I thought it would be helpful to...
Nonprofits and charities form a third or “independent sector” that delivers important services and benefits that neither governments nor profit-seeking businesses can deliver as effectively. The state and local taxing entities should be careful not to supplant these institutions of civil society. What do I mean? In Scottsbluff one of the top local stories was...
A state auditor's report found the city of Friend had been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars more for items such as pool chemicals and paper towels that were routinely sold to other Nebraska towns for much less. According to a Lincoln Journal Star article, "Auditors laid blame on the vague purchase descriptions provided to...