It's a longstanding and popular opinion expressed by (mostly) Republican politicians and many residents: taxes are too high in Nebraska.
But are they, really? It, of course, depends on your point of view. However, one recent study says taxes in the Cornhusker state are lower than in more than half of the other states.
The from financial technology company Self used expenditure data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to estimate what residents of each state pay in taxes -- income, sales, property and auto registration -- over their lifetime.
According to the study, Nebraskans pay an average of $458,304 in total federal, state and local taxes over their lifetime. It sounds like a lot of money, but it's lower than what residents of 27 states and the District of Columbia will pay over their lifetimes. It's also more than $65,000 less than the U.S. average.
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But, you're thinking we don't make as much in Nebraska as in many other states, so we pay a higher percentage of taxes, right?
Actually, no. According to the study, Nebraskans over their lifetime will pay 31.7% of their income in taxes, which is less than residents of 26 other states and D.C.
Among surrounding states, residents in Colorado (39.4%), Iowa (38.8%) and Wyoming (35.5%) pay more, while those in Kansas (29.9%), Missouri (29.8%) and South Dakota (29.5%) pay less.
While Nebraska residents' tax burden ranks in the lower half overall, there are a couple of categories in which we pay more, and you can probably guess what those categories are. According to the study, Nebraskans have the 16th-highest automotive taxes and the 18th-highest property taxes. The state ranks 28th for income taxes and 31st for sales taxes.
Out of office overestimated?
There's been a lot of ink given to the pandemic's effect on office workers and how so many of them went remote. I've written stories about Lincoln companies that sent their workers home in March 2020, and some of those companies only recently allowed their workers to come back to the office.
But a study from the University of Nebraska at Omaha says those companies were the exception rather than the rule.
The study, from UNO's Center for Public Affairs Research, says only 16% of the state's workers were working remotely last year, and that dropped to 8% by the first two months of 2020.
Those numbers sound fairly small to me, but when you consider what jobs were able to be done remotely, the picture starts to become clearer.Â
Workers in the finance, insurance, and professional, scientific and technical services fields were the ones more likely to be working remotely. These include jobs such as financial advisors, insurance agents, mortgage underwriters and customer service representatives.
In other so-called white collar professions, such as education and health care, remote work wasn't an option for most employees. And then there are industries such as construction, manufacturing and retail services, where most work has to be done in person.
The study also pointed out that workers in jobs that were less likely to move remote also tended to earn less and were more susceptible to being laid off.
"The economic pain of the pandemic was mostly felt by our lower-wage workers, who were less likely to have remote work options and were more likely to be laid off due to COVID-19 shutdowns," said Josie Schafer, director of the Center for Public Affairs Research.
COVID construction boom
Speaking of jobs that can't be done remotely, the local construction industry appears to have done quite well, at least when it comes to employing people during the pandemic.
According to data released Wednesday by the Associated General Contractors, Lincoln added 900 construction jobs between February 2020 and April 2021, a nearly 10% increase.
That tied Lincoln for 51st place out of 217 metropolitan areas in which the Associated General Contractors tracks job numbers.
Look around the city and it's not hard to see why construction employment has increased. There are two hotels under construction and several condo and apartment projects underway. The housing industry had its busiest year last year in more than a decade. That all has occurred despite huge price increases for and shortages of many materials. That, in my opinion, is quite impressive.
Listing the lists
Regular readers of this column know I sometimes like to end it with a rundown of recent rankings of Lincoln and/or Nebraska in national reports. The latest:
* Seventh-best city for seniors to be financially secure ()
* Eighth-best city for getting out of credit card debt ()
* 11th-best place to raise a family ()
* 4th best city for Gen Z to move to ()
What's coming from your wallet in the Lincoln area: See the breakdown here
Ag Society
Ag Society JPA
City of Lincoln
ESU 18
Jail JPA city and jail JPA county
Lancaster County
LPS
Lower Platte South NRD
Public Building Commission
Railroad Safety Transportation District
SCC
Police and fire pensions
LPS 1999 bond
2006 LPS bond
2014 LPS bond
LPS Capital Purpose Fund
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