The Path Forward: Reversing the Trend Through Free Market Reform
(Note: This is the fifth and final installment in a series of articles where we’ve looked at demographics in Nebraska. We’ve seen that we are actively losing the regional race for domestic migration (Post 1), that our population is rapidly concentrating along the I-80 corridor (Post 2), and that our rural workforce is aging out at an unsustainable rate (Post 3). In (Post 4), we looked at differences in economic prosperity across our state and argued that childcare is part of the economic infrastructure we need to consider.)
The data we’ve explored throughout this series paints a clear picture. Nebraska has incredible potential, but we’re running a domestic migration deficit, facing a rapidly aging rural workforce, and erecting artificial barriers that lock young families out of the economy.
Our neighbors are aggressively competing for our talent. If we maintain the status quo, we will keep exporting our brightest minds and hollowing out our local communities. To reverse these trends and plant the seeds for long-term prosperity, we must fundamentally improve our economic environment. We need a comprehensive framework—built on three core pillars—that directly tackles the tax policies, housing shortages, and regulatory bloat holding Nebraskans back.
Pillar 1: Tax Policy That Rewards Growth
People and capital are highly mobile. When states like South Dakota signal that they are open for business with a highly competitive tax structure, working families and entrepreneurs take notice. Nebraska must prioritize pro-growth tax reform that allows residents to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks. Lowering the burden of income and property taxes doesn’t just relieve pressure on current residents; it also sends a clear message to the rest of the country that Nebraska is the best place to build wealth.
Pillar 2: Unlocking Housing Solutions
You cannot attract a new workforce if there is nowhere for them to live. Across urban and rural Nebraska, a lack of starter homes and affordable middle-class housing severely deters growth. Restrictive local zoning laws, minimum lot sizes, and bureaucratic permitting processes often drive this shortage by making development too expensive or outright illegal. By championing free-market housing solutions and protecting property rights, we can unleash developers to build the homes our growing families desperately need.
Pillar 3: Removing Regulatory Barriers
Finally, we must cut the red tape that stifles entrepreneurship and workforce participation. As we saw with the childcare crisis, over-regulation doesn’t make us safer; it simply creates supply shortages that drive up costs and force parents out of the labor market. Whether it is reforming burdensome occupational licensing requirements that block professionals from starting new careers, or streamlining the approvals needed to open a small business, we must get the government out of the way of human ingenuity.
Nebraska’s demographic challenges didn’t appear overnight, and they won’t be solved overnight. But by committing to free-market principles—reforming our tax code, expanding housing options, and cutting regulatory red tape—we can make the Good Life an economic magnet for the next generation.