Principles of Good Tax Policy
Principles of Good Tax Policy
I recently had the opportunity of catching up with David Brunori whom I worked with extensively on the Blueprint Nebraska Tax Modernization plan. David is nationally known as a journalist, author, educator, and lawyer who specializes in state and local tax policy. In our podcast hosted by Jim Vokal and the Platte Institute, David and...
By Jim Smith
Full Expensing for Nebraska in 2024
Full Expensing for Nebraska in 2024
Full expensing is the ideal tax policy to help Nebraska catalyze economic growth, attract capital investment, and re-shore supply chains in 2024. Full expensing allows a business to write off the cost of new investment immediately rather than spreading out investment cost recovery over as long as 20 years. It is a subtle change that...
By Michael Lucci
Looking Ahead to the 2024 Legislative Session
Looking Ahead to the 2024 Legislative Session
The second session of the 108th Nebraska Legislature will convene January 3rd, 2024. The 2024 session is a 60-day “short session.” Legislative activity will proceed at full speed, with much to accomplish right from the start. Following an anticipated rules debate, senators will begin debating the many carryover priority bills from the 2023 session. This...
By Nicole Fox
Nebraska’s Path to the Top Ten, Four More Years of Tax Reform
Nebraska’s Path to the Top Ten, Four More Years of Tax Reform
To download the full “Nebraska’s Path to the Top Ten Report” click here. Summary Nebraska entered 2022 with one of the least-competitive tax systems in a highly competitive region. But then a structural surge in tax revenues was utilized by lawmakers to perform Nebraska’s two-year tax transformation. Across two governors and two years, Nebraska lawmakers...
By Michael Lucci
Tax reform is still in the air in Nebraska
Tax reform is still in the air in Nebraska
Writing in the pages of National Review, Platte CEO Jim Vokal and I described Nebraska’s 2023 tax reform as the best in the nation. Property taxes and income taxes were both cut and reformed in 2023. And that’s not all. Coupled with meaningful reforms in 2022, the total two-year tax relief will be worth $3000...
By Michael Lucci
AI and the Discouraged Worker
AI and the Discouraged Worker
Nebraska has the potential to become an exemplar in using artificial technology to bridge the gap in the State’s workforce by providing employment opportunities to those currently excluded from the labor market. Nebraska boasts one of the lowest unemployment rates in the United States, standing at 2 percent, tied for the fifth lowest in the...
By Lance Pounds
How the state legislature can address Nebraska’s rising home values
How the state legislature can address Nebraska’s rising home values
Nebraska policymakers are being called upon to address a problem that afflicts nearly every state across the country. Rapidly rising property values are stressing homeowners, particularly when property taxes rise proportionate to property values. As a result, homeowners are turning to public officials for solutions. It is fair to say that this problem exists in...
By Michael Lucci
Next steps for Nebraska after nation’s best tax reform
Next steps for Nebraska after nation’s best tax reform
Nebraska led the states with the nation’s best tax reform in 2023, overhauling its income tax and property tax in one fell swoop. Nebraska’s individual and business income tax will both fall to 3.99% in coming years, boosting the state’s competitiveness in the nation’s most tax-competitive region. Nebraska’s fiscal accomplishments in 2023 will naturally leave...
By Michael Lucci
Setting the facts straight on Nebraska’s opportunity scholarships
Setting the facts straight on Nebraska’s opportunity scholarships
Nebraska’s Opportunity Scholarships Act program, enacted in LB 753, creates a pathway for Nebraska students to learn and thrive in the education environment that suits them best. The program provides $25 million per year for roughly 5,000 students to enroll in a private school rather than a public school. Nebraska’s school choice program is funded...
By Michael Lucci
Southeast Community College Board votes to raise property taxes by 40%
Southeast Community College Board votes to raise property taxes by 40%
Property owners in southeast Nebraska should brace for sticker shock ahead of next year’s property tax bills. The Board of Governors for the Southeast Community College system (SCC) voted on Tuesday to raise property taxes by roughly 40% across the 15-county service area, according to coverage by the Lincoln Journal Star. Tuesday’s preliminary approval will...
By Michael Lucci