Creative Legislating 101 – XXX Tax Rates – Literally

The 102nd Legislature, 1st Session just concluded its 12th official day and I know I am already getting...tired, nauseated, and grouchy. (No, I don't have a virus...unless you call it politician-itis.) Why?

In addition to more wrangling than you'd find at a Texas rodeo, I'm disappointed and in some cases, appalled about some of the legislation introduced.  Many result from the influence of very particular special interests or are the pet projects of political parties. There are too many bills that would hand even more power to government, raise our taxes in some very slick ways, or were crafted for the sole purpose of handing out political pacifiers to the public (without doing anything substantive and/or have no chance of passing).

If you're for legislation that is in pursuance of the Constitution, limited government, and rule of law that respects your liberty, and/or you think there has been a legislative measure introduced that will satisfy a need in some critical area, it appears you may very well be disappointed at the end of this session. After spending more time on the whole endeavor, I hope to ultimately learn that I am mistaken.

While it is difficult to sort out what bothers me most so far, it may be how very coordinated so much of the Legislature's business appears. Too often, especially on critical matters, there is only one bill introduced. It really does make one wonder - where is that smoky backroom down at the Capitol where Session plans are coordinated prior to "the show" put on for the citizens' benefit?

I've been using the first person here thus far, but I'm not alone in my sentiments; I've received emails, had conversations, and seen comments on this site. When pondering a graphic for this session of the Unicameral that conformed to GiN's neighborhood bar theme, Linda and I really only had one question: What imagery would properly convey what seems to be going on at our State Capitol?

That's how we settled on the classic painting of the dogs playing poker; the only things that may be missing? Maybe there's not enough smoke hanging in the air, and it's certain that the walls of the poker room should be lined with mirrors.

For our very first article using our new sign, an ideal topic fell straight into my lap last night. We can all thank District 45 Senator Abbie Cornett for providing such a "gem" of an opportunity.

Cornett is the Chair of the Legislature's Revenue Committee. Our thanks for the information goes to a site visitor (again), who most appropriately has adopted the username of "Taxed Enough Already". I think I'll call him or her TEA for short. TEA tipped us off to the legislation introduced by Senator Cornett that proposes to raise our taxes in several different ways.

Cornett introduced three separate bills, as reported by the Omaha World Herald:

LB559: Raises state income tax

LB561: Increases the state sales tax

LB560: Subjects a long list of previously exempt services to sales taxation.

Note the title of this article includes the phrase "creative legislating". The reason I dub Senator Cornett's work "creative" can best be understood by taking a quick look at LB561, which proposes to raise Nebraska's sales tax on October 1, 2011, from its current 5 1/2% to "XXX" percent. The language directly from the bill:

"(5) Commencing October 1, 2011, the rate of the sales tax levied pursuant to section 77-2703 shall be XXX percent."

Obviously, Senator Cornett introduced a placeholder bill for the purpose of inserting an actual tax rate.

Nebraska's tax revenues have been lower than projected for most months since the "financial crisis" of 2008. Rather than drastically cutting the state budget to the extent necessary to contend with the shortfalls, increasing the rate is a solution under serious consideration.

User "TEA" reports that Senator Cornett said she introduced such legislation in the event of "emergency only" and the Omaha World Herald story reports the same.

I should not be surprised at the introduction of Cornett's bills. On June 29, 2010, several members of GiN attended a hearing for an Ad Hoc Committee comprised of Committee Chairs and the Speaker created for the purpose of dealing with Nebraska's ongoing budget shortfalls (LR542).

Towards the end of the meeting, Committee Chairs reported the status of their respective Committees. Here is what I have in my notes (They can be read in full by clicking here.) regarding what the Revenue Committee reported: ¹ My notes list Senator Deb Fischer as Senator giving the report on June 29, 2010. Although my notes were reviewed by Linda, who also attended, I am ...continue

"...there were few opportunities for elimination in her department, and further reported that the committee was looking at the potential elimination of the homestead exemption and they were also 'putting together matrixes to supplement revenue'."

Hopefully, readers' "immune" systems are stronger than mine, but, if you're not suffering from politician-itis yet, the last bit of news may make the illness contagious: Since Nebraska runs its legislative sessions in two year cycles, Senator Cornett's tax increase bills will be carried over to 2012's session even if they go nowhere this year.

(Updated through minor revisions, June 10, 2013.)