In a column that appeared in the Omaha World-Herald on Sunday, OpenSky Policy Institute Executive Director Renee Fry wrote, “Despite claims from supporters, including in a Feb. 5 World-Herald editorial, Legislative Bill 720, the tax incentive proposal before the Legislature, should give Nebraska taxpayers serious pause.
“First, the claim that the state provided $415 million in incentives between 2006 and 2017 presents an incomplete story. That number only includes credits distributed through the Nebraska Advantage Act and excludes sales and use tax refunds and personal property tax exemptions, two integral pieces of the Act. It also omits LB 775 — the precursor to Nebraska Advantage — which, during those same years, also provided incentives. When factoring in all components of both Nebraska Advantage and LB 775 from 2006 to 2017, the state provided $2.015 billion in incentives. Furthermore, this number only includes the state’s two largest incentives and doesn’t include credits or deductions from other smaller state incentive programs.”
Fry went on to highlight that the measure would incentivize jobs with below-average wages, lacks effective fiscal guardrails and includes a questionable provision purported to save jobs that are a threat to leave the state.