Removing Barriers for Nebraskans

The Creative Disruption of Digital Wallets and Chinese Direct-to-Consumer Marketplaces in Holiday Shopping

The Creative Disruption of Digital Wallets and Chinese Direct-to-Consumer Marketplaces in Holiday Shopping

The concept of ‘creative destruction’, coined by economist Joseph Schumpeter, where innovative market changes lead to the downfall of older, less efficient business models, aptly describes the transformative impact of technology on holiday shopping.   While shopping habits during the rest of the year guided the market trends, consumers’ habits during the holiday seasons significantly influenced...

By Lance Pounds

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

How Nebraska ranks in freedom

How Nebraska ranks in freedom

The Cato Institute’s recent release of its new “Freedom in the 50 States” index should provide Nebraska policymakers with some good information to consider as they head into the 2024 legislative session. Cato is a national policy think tank focusing on individual liberty, limited government, and free markets.   The bottom line in the index: Nebraska’s...

By Laura Ebke

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

Artificial intelligence could make lawmaking better

Artificial intelligence could make lawmaking better

 As any high school civics teacher tries to impress upon distracted teenagers, the federal and state legislative branches pass laws, and the executive branch is responsible for carrying them out. But to facilitate the implementation of laws, administrative rules are created to provide guidance related to the law after it is codified. In Nebraska, the...

By Lance Pounds

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

Barriers especially harmful to women

Barriers especially harmful to women

The Platte Institute has focused significantly on workforce licensing reform for the last seven years. From making it easier for natural hair braiders to practice their craft to requiring reviews of every license required by the state to work on a five-year cycle, we’ve seen some successes in our efforts to make it easier for...

By Laura Ebke

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

Platte Institute Nominated for State Policy Network Bob Williams Award

Platte Institute Nominated for State Policy Network Bob Williams Award

The Platte Institute is honored to be nominated for a State Policy Network Bob Williams Award: Biggest State Win. As a part of our nomination for this award, we outlined three historic victories:   Nebraska Income Tax Reform:  LB754 is a tour de force of income tax reforms. The individual and corporate income taxes are...

By Jim Vokal

Property Tax Paradox: How Nebraska’s Increased Valuations Impact You

Property Tax Paradox: How Nebraska’s Increased Valuations Impact You

Many Nebraskans (this writer included) took big gulps when they opened their property valuation notices this past week. In Crete, our valuations went up 23%.   While we can understand the increase in valuations because property sales have risen, and property valuations are based on market value, these increased values also have the possibility to significantly...

By Laura Ebke