Last month Gov. Jim Pillen put together a new task force to examine Nebraska’s workforce shortage. In predictable fashion, Gov. Pillen stacked the task force with those who continue to ignore Nebraska’s most pressing problem, namely the need for tax reform. Instead of choosing people who care about tax reform, those who were selected for the task force represent the most supportive of our state’s broken tax system. Besides state agencies, the task force will consist of representatives from the University of Nebraska system, the state college system, and the Nebraska Community College Association, all of which are institutions funded by tax dollars.
Nebraska’s labor shortage is a direct consequence of our broken tax system. Out of control property taxes is the number one factor that is causing people to leave our state. The fact of the matter is that the State of Nebraska is nearly surrounded on every side by states with better tax codes and better economies than Nebraska. Until those running our State begin to listen to the people of our State who pay the taxes rather than the institutions of our State which spend the tax dollars, will we never begin to take the first steps towards solving our labor shortage problem.
It is a fundamental mistake of governments to believe that they can somehow attract new workers. The power of governments to proactively attract new workers inevitably comes in the form of new kinds of grants, subsidies and incentive programs for laborers, which require even more tax dollars to implement, and any such government programs automatically cross the line into socialism. Consequently, whenever the government money runs out, so does the flow of new workers into the state.
