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LB 405: Standing up for “the Good Life”

 

In Nebraska, we pride ourselves in having built “the Good Life” for our children and families.  The high quality of life that we enjoy was not created overnight and did not happen by accident.  Instead, the education, health care and other public systems that we enjoy today have been planned for and paid for by the taxpayers of the past.

We oppose LB 405 for the following reasons:

1.) LB 405 would make it more difficult for the state to provide many of the services that make our state great.  Nebraska is in a position to maintain a high quality of living without implementing a reckless economic policy that would invite instability and hurt hardworking people.

2.)  LB 405 would adversely impact low-income families.  We also oppose the elimination of our state income tax because of the impact it will have on low- and middle-income families.  Without the income tax, families loose access to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Care Tax Credit.  For low- income, working families, these refundable credits help offset some of the other taxes families pay and help them meet their families’ basic needs.  In 2011, the refundable portion of the Child Care Tax Credit returned $6.8 million to 12,100 families making less than $29,000 per year.  The EITC returned over $28 million to 129,040 income tax filers.  Almost 1 in 6 income tax filers benefited from these targeted refunds.

A healthy and educated work force and a sturdy economy are the result of wise decisions our state has made in the past using our state income tax dollars.  We owe it to our children and grandchildren to continue to make wise decisions with our state budget and continue to build our education, health care and other systems. Elimination of the income tax would be a step away  from “The Good Life,” especially for low-income working families and for future generations of Nebraskans.

 

Here is our quick fact sheet on the impact of the EITC on Nebraska.

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