2006
Week 10
March 10, 2006

Hi

Sigh. It is that season when campaigners talk about how bad Nebraska taxes are -- that we are ranked #8 in the nation. Or 45th, close to the bottom of worst business climates. We have tax challenges, all right, but those statements are simply not accurate.

The ‘business climate’ is a listing manufactured from statistics, weighting them according to the spin of the ones making the list. In regard to tax listings, generally we are in the high middle for two good reasons: we have few people on an awful large chunk of land. Our roads, for example, will always be more expensive per capita because many states have seven times the population in an area half as large. Like Ohio. I wish someone would rate ‘tax efficiency’ -- on which we would be quite high.

The "Governing" Sourcebook for 2005 shows the following rankings. The first number is the state ranking per capita, the second the Nebraska cost per capita and the third the national figure. Since e-mail does not favor tab stops, I will use spaces and hope you can figure it out.

Total tax revenue	20	$3077	$3143
Property taxes	15	1012	969
Sales taxes	28	1053	1125
Corporate income taxes	29	62	98
Personal income taxes	25	668	704
Fees, etc.	23	1465	1456
Total spending	14	7231	7111
State and local debt	34
Higher Education spending	11	690	545
K-12 spending	18	1435	1427
Per pupil, for education	32	7352	8508
Pupil:teacher ratio	11	14:1	16:1
Fire protection spending	28	73	90
Police protection spending	42	155	224
Corrections spending	29	149	190
Highway spending	15	535	401
Parks & rec spending	31	85	105
Environment spending	27	234	251
Health & hosp spending	40	351	508
Welfare spending	21	986	971
Public employees salaries	9	33,293	3,286
# of local public employees, per 10,000	6	607	486
# of state public employees, per 10,000	20	224	176
# of welfare recipients, per 10,000	22	156	161
# of incarcerated citizens, per 100,000	45	227	486
% Uninsured for health	35	11.3%	15.6%
% with high speed Internet access	15	37.9%	35.8%
# Students per Internet computer in schools	5	2.9	4.1
% communities with water quality violations	1	22.1%	8.3%

Toxic chemicals released - air, land, water - increased 121% in two years
(Since most decreased, that puts us 11 from the top.)
Personal income per capita - rank 25. Positive change in personal income - rank 35
Unemployment rank - 41; positive change in employment - 18
"Economic Momentum" rank is 38

The concealed carry bill seems simple, but it is not, so I use it for my lesson of the week. We spent way too much time on a bill that does not matter that much, so I had time to note how complicated issues can become.

First, a withering array of statistics. Some claim concealed carry reduces crime. Others claim statistics show it increases crime. Frankly, neither side makes its case. Reliable studies (hard to find!) show very little difference. Next, the public wants it/does not want it. Both right. Rural areas want it, urban areas do not. Next, police want it/do not want it. In general, police associations oppose concealed carry, but you can find quite a few enforcement individuals to quote on the other side.

We heard this is a second amendment "right to carry" issue, with much righteous emotion. Clearly, carrying concealed is not a right. You are supposed to keep your rifle in the back window, as any rancher knows. We hear children are endangered. That depends on quite another factor: how the gun is stored or protected in a child environment.

Who wins? We do not know. I have noted before that those who carry concealed now -- which are many -- may now do so with some inconvenience but almost never a penalty. That is greatly changed with this bill. A permit is required, with training and background checks. A big deal for us in these decisions is public cost, which we assumed was covered with the fees. Turns out we will have to add some tax money to pay for background checks. Also turns out that once you get clearance you basically have lifetime privilege without review.

The National Rifle Association is controlling the vote, so the decision is not really based on any of the above. The NRA is using this to tout their ‘wins’ with their membership. Not unusual. Those of us who are opposed were able to prevent amendments of their wording, which allows for cities to opt out and ban concealed carry. Omaha and Lincoln will presumably do this, since the danger is more urban.

Finally, the debate did give me some chance for fun. A western senator took a shot at Omaha, where "more people are killed and you are the ones who are unwilling to let your folk protect themselves from criminals." Well, Omaha has one of the lowest crime rates of cities its size and does not consider more guns to be a protection, but rational argument means nothing in emotional debate.

So I responded that our family had lived in many parts of the state. We lived in Custer County for 8 years, during which period Custer County was ranked #1 in the nation for unsolved murders. Hard to do, if we were low crime! [Ruth worked on North 24th street in Omaha and said she felt safer there than in Custer County. That is no knock on Custer County, but recognizes that her community, including the kids, looked after one another.]

Further, over the last ten years my home community in central Nebraska has a murder rate of 1 per 500 residents. Worse than Omaha by 100 times! My community did not even count one of these because it was a suicide. I asked a friend how that could be. The man's wife killed him, with a pistol, causing powder burns in his hair. And no gun in the room. Did anyone doubt any part of that? No. But, I was told, he was a jerk. Well, yes...... No, Lowen, I mean a real jerk. Abusive to his wife. A bum -- we are better off without him -- he committed suicide.

I told the western senator that I am grateful for creative thought in our communities. I agree with this western standard. A jerk who is abusing his wife is surely committing suicide. We have jerks in Omaha. (Very few!) Some of them get killed. However, we always register that event as a homicide.

Keep smiling, or we will all go nuts.

Lowen