LR444 committee begins work evaluating Nebraska’s tax incentive programs

The Legislature’s (LR444) Tax Incentive Evaluation Committee pushed away from the dock Thursday with its first meeting.

Committee member Sen. Galen Hadley said lawmakers must ensure that tax incentive program criteria are good for Nebraska.

The three goals of Nebraska’s tax incentive programs are to: strengthen the economy, revitalize rural/distressed areas and stimulate entrepreneurism.

The committee was scheduled to hear a presentation from Robert Zahradnik of The Pew Center on the States, but his flight was delayed because of bad weather in Chicago.

The committee did, however, review his report. It suggested, among other things:

–Tax incentive program evaluations should be done every three to five years.
–Nebraska lawmakers require businesses to provide relevant data as a condition of getting tax incentives.
–That they look beyond wages when measuring quality of jobs created under tax incentive programs.

Sen. Paul Schumacher said that when evaluating such programs, lawmakers must look at results produced by businesses that did not use tax incentives compared to those that did.

Competition among states to attract businesses is “like a nuclear war,” Hadley said. Nebraska must “make sure we are competing the right way.

Hadley also said Nebraska lawmakers must be careful in looking at changes in tax incentive programs. Businesses are “looking for stability.”