I want to begin my article this week by paying tribute to Sergeant 1^st Class Noah Tietjens of Bellevue, Nebraska, who lost his life while serving his country when he was killed in an unmanned drone attack at the Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait. Five others also lost their lives during that attack. This is a reminder of why we can never spend enough time honoring our active-duty military and veterans and thanking them for their service. We forget that our military men and women literally put their lives on the line to protect our freedoms and our safety here in the United States. Thank you again to Sgt. Tietjens, all those who served our country, and their families! You deserve our respect and our support.

Monday will mark Day 40 of the 60-day session and the beginning of legislative debate on the two budget bills. The Appropriations Committee distributed its budget proposal, which is short by anywhere from $125 to $ 140 million based on the most recent Economic Forecasting Board projections. This deficit will need to be reconciled on the floor of the Legislature over the next ten legislative days.

Everyone has their own ideas as to how to solve our budget challenges, but the real question that separates the two general solutions is a matter of philosophy: Do you determine the amount of spending needed and solve for the revenue? Or, do you determine what revenue is available and solve for the spending cuts? This seems simple, but a disagreement over approach has divided Senators into two camps that may struggle to reach an agreement.

I fall more in the camp of finding more cuts. Some have suggested we should pause the existing policies decreasing our income tax rate. However, history has shown us that when we temporarily pause tax reductions, the pause generally becomes permanent, since there is always a place to spend any revenue on the table. I was prepared to vote to increase the cigarette (and vape) tax because our current tax is well below most states and is a huge contributor to medical costs. Our state Medicaid costs will increase by $71 million from last year alone; the tax increase proposed would have brought in nearly $50 million annually. I am a believer that linking revenue sources to revenue users is good. Why should nonsmokers pay for the medical costs of smokers and vapers?

I am also a firm supporter of preserving funding for the Perkins County Canal and the prison, and I support keeping the state income tax competitive with neighboring states. I am likewise firmly committed to keeping our property tax relief funds in place. I would support certain sales tax exemption repeals if they were for nonessential and non-business input expenses. This would include pop and candy.

There are those who take a more “purest” approach to tax policy and are opposed to any new taxes or, conversely, to any specific spending cuts. My hope is that we can rebalance our tax burdens; our property taxes are too high, state income tax reductions should be preserved, and new sales taxes should be imposed to offset reductions in other taxes.

All told, however, rebalancing can only take us so far. We will not be able to tax or cut our way to prosperity. We must grow our tax base. We need more people, more high-paying jobs, and more infrastructure to support growth. The tax base increases when more houses are built, businesses grow, and the population increases. We have approximately two million people who call Nebraska home. If we can grow our population at a faster pace, we can stay ahead of the spending pressures we are facing at all levels of government. Should the Union Pacific merger be approved, and they grow their Omaha employment base by over 500 employees making over $100,000 per year, we would make a huge dent in our needed revenue growth. There is a bill in the Legislature, LB1165, that will incentivize UP executives in the Atlanta office to relocate to Nebraska. I will support this bill because it will cost the state nothing if they don’t meet the thresholds outlined in the legislation, but if they hit the targets, it will pay for itself many times over.

It continues to be a privilege to represent you in the Nebraska Legislature, and I look forward to hearing from you regarding issues that are important to you. I can be reached at 402-471-2729 or by emailing me at mjacobson@leg.ne.gov.