Economists talk to Revenue Committee about causes, solutions to state’s high taxes

On Friday, two economic professors spoke in front of the Nebraska Legislature’s Revenue Committee.

The subject? Taxes.

“We have a taxing problem but more importantly, we have a spending problem — at the state level, but more importantly at the local level,” Creighton University business professor Dr. Ernie Goss said.

Dr. Goss said solutions include cutting spending growth on K-12 and post-secondary education.

He said the state aid to formula also needs to be reworked.

“All I can say is the outcomes indicate that it’s biased toward urban areas — heavily populated areas of the state,” he said.  “That’s where the state aid’s going.”

He also said the state should rely more heavily on sales taxes and that there’s too many tax exemptions.

UNL economics professor Dr. Eric Thompson talked about tax modernization.

It included reducing sales tax exemptions for household goods and services and taxing consumption more and production less.

Revenue Chair Sen. Lou Ann Linehan said the presentations Friday only confirmed what they think is heading in the right direction when it comes to taxation.

She said the committee will meet again on the Aug. 19 and talk about possibly closing tax loopholes.