Taxes dominate legislative debate

Cutting taxes. This is a perennial issue that most senators promise to address in the legislature. They campaign on this issue and make promises, usually with good intentions. But then, year after year, little, if anything, is accomplished.

Much time on the floor this week was spent on an income tax cutting bill, LB 939. This bill is sponsored by Senator Lou Ann Linehan, who is chairperson of the Legislature’s Revenue Committee. The intent of LB 939 is to reduce the top individual income tax rate from 6.84% to 5.84% over a three-year period. This will bring parity between the top rate for both individual and corporate income taxes.

Much of the debate centered on the fact that, with the exception of Iowa, most of our neighboring states have a more attractive tax structure than Nebraska (Wyoming and South Dakota have no individual income tax). With a tight labor market, this bill would make Nebraska more competitive.

I sit on the Legislature’s Education Committee which heard the following bills this week:

LB 1158, introduced by Senator Rita Sanders of Bellevue, is a proposed update to Nebraska’s Parental Involvement and Academic Transparency statutes to address policies of each district regarding transparency, to provide for public input on these policies, and to add an accountability mechanism;

LB768 comes from Senator Joni Albrecht of Thurston. The purpose of this bill is to clearly define the guidelines for health education standards and to establish that no additional education standards can be created or distributed by the Nebraska Department of Education without the authority of the Legislature;

LB888, brought by Senator Jen Day of Omaha, adds the Holocaust and other acts of genocide to Nebraska’s existing statute that requires multicultural education in public schools; and

LB1112 was introduced by Senator Terrell McKinney of Omaha. This bill would create the Computer Science Technology and Education Act. The intent is to address the tech talent workforce crisis by affording public school students the opportunity to access and learn critical computer science and digital literacy fundamentals during early and secondary education. The goal of LB 1112 is to prepare Nebraska’ K-12 public school students to compete and thrive in a 21st century workforce; ensuring the opportunity to learn computer science skills before high school graduation is fundamental to reaching that goal.

The issue of property and income taxes steers us back to the importance of elections. Much time was taken this week by senators filibustering LB 939. We need to populate the unicameral with fiscally conservative senators who believe as I and others do, that excess tax money does not belong to the state but to the taxpayers. Many legislative seats that are term-limited or term-expired have promising candidates running.

I welcome any comments, questions, or ideas you may have on this or any other issue. Please feel free to email me at dmurman@leg.ne.gov or call my office at 402-471-2732.