Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP)

Nebraska

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Re-Examining 529 Plans: Stopping State Subsidies to Private Schools After New Trump Tax Law

• By Miles Trinidad, Nick Johnson

The 2025 federal tax law risks making 529 plans more costly for states by increasing tax avoidance and allowing wealthy families to use these funds for private and religious K-12 schools.

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State Rundown 11/13: States Tackle Impending Deficits, Pennsylvania Secures an EITC

• By ITEP Staff

Revenue forecasts look increasingly grim as states anticipate shortfalls due to the slowing economy and impacts of the new federal tax law.

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State Rundown 11/5: Voters Say “Yes!” to Public Investments

• By ITEP Staff

Despite being an off-year election, voters made a call for shared public investments at the polls.

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State Rundown 10/1: State and Local Governments Doing the Opposite of Shutting Down

• By ITEP Staff

State and local officials are staying very busy by considering a dizzying amount of reversals.

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State Rundown 9/18: Lawmakers Confront Revenue Loss from Federal Policy Changes

• By ITEP Staff

Some states are trying to avoid revenue loss while others are welcoming it and doubling down.

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State Rundown 9/4: Colorado Tackles Offshore Corporate Tax Avoidance, Paves Way for State Conformity Best Practices

• By ITEP Staff

Despite an increasingly bleak state revenue outlook, state lawmakers across the country continue to prioritize regressive tax cuts.

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State Rundown 8/20: States to Face Serious Conformity, Revenue Issues as Summer Ends

• By ITEP Staff

While tax news has slowed as summer comes to an end, there are rumblings beneath the surface that could be an inauspicious sign of the times ahead for states and state budgets.

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State Rundown 7/24: States Begin Preparing for Federal Megabill Fallout

• By ITEP Staff

All eyes in statehouses in recent weeks have been on federal budget negotiations, and now that the “megabill” has passed, they are focused in on their own budgets in search of ways to cope with the enormous consequences coming their way. All states will see fewer federal dollars flowing through their coffers, higher needs due […]

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Two in Three Americans Live in States with Variable-Rate Gas Taxes

• By Carl Davis

As inflation and fuel efficiency undercut traditional gas tax revenue, many states are rethinking how they fund transportation. Lawmakers across the country are beginning to modernize outdated gas tax systems to keep pace with rising infrastructure costs and changing driving habits.

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How Much Would Every Family in Every State Get if the Megabill’s Tax Cuts Given to the Rich Had Instead Been Evenly Divided?

• By Michael Ettlinger

If instead of giving $117 billion to the richest 1 percent, that money had been evenly divided among all Americans, we'd each get $343 - or nearly $1,400 for a family of four.

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State Rundown 7/8: State Tax Cuts Continue Despite Federal Megabill Passing

• By ITEP Staff

The last states are wrapping up legislative sessions, and some are crossing the finish line with major income tax cuts.

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Analysis of Tax Provisions in the Trump Megabill as Signed into Law: National and State Level Estimates

• By Steve Wamhoff, Carl Davis, Joe Hughes, Jessica Vela

President Trump has signed into law the tax and spending “megabill” that largely favors the richest taxpayers and provides working-class Americans with relatively small tax cuts that will in many cases be more than offset by Trump's tariffs.

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Megabill Takes Cap Off Unprecedented Private School Voucher Tax Credit, Potentially Raising Cost by Tens of Billions Relative to Earlier Version

• By Carl Davis

It is clear that this tax credit has the potential to come with an enormous cost if private school groups are successful in convincing their supporters to participate. In these times of very high debt and deficits, this is reason for all of us to be uneasy.

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Trump Megabill Will Give $117 Billion in Tax Cuts to the Top 1% in 2026. How Much In Your State?

• By Michael Ettlinger

The predominant feature of the tax and spending bill working its way through Congress is a massive tax cut for the richest 1 percent — a $114 billion benefit to the wealthiest people in the country in 2026 alone.

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How Much Do the Top 1% in Each State Get from the Trump Megabill?

• By Carl Davis

The Senate tax bill under debate right now would bring very large tax cuts to very high-income people. In total, the richest 1 percent would receive $114 billion in tax cuts next year alone. That would amount to nearly $61,000 for each of these affluent households.

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State Rundown 6/25: The Numbers Don’t Lie, State Budget Edition

• By ITEP Staff

Many states are reaching their end-of-June budget deadlines, and major tax policy changes look to have big implications as states are forced, per federal policy, to do more with less.

Nebraska Legislature: Poverty Elimination Action Plan

• By Aidan Davis, Neva Butkus

The COVID-19 pandemic spurred temporary expansions to existing anti-poverty programs, which had a profound impact on poverty rates…Key programs during this period included SNAP, the refundable Child Tax Credit, and increased funding for TANF. As federal pandemic relief has expired, several states have enacted state-level replacements. Read more. 

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State Rundown 6/20: Federal tax policy heats up, states wrap sessions and weigh impacts

• By ITEP Staff

As state legislative sessions come to a close, decisions on tax policy are being made. Several southern states have cut taxes, while the northeast is making some more measured reforms.

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The ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill Creates a $5 Billion Tax Shelter for Private School Donors

• By Amy Hanauer

On May 22, Congress passed the House reconciliation bill or “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” by a one-vote margin. The bill’s dozens of destructive tax provisions would supercharge inequality and force devastating cuts to health and food aid that have been bedrocks of the American safety net since the 1960s.

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State Rundown 6/5: States Wrap Sessions, Some Prepare for Fiscal Uncertainty

• By ITEP Staff

States use the final hours of their legislative sessions to address deficits and preserve revenue in preparation for the times ahead.

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Analysis of Tax Provisions in the House Reconciliation Bill: National and State Level Estimates

• By Carl Davis, Jessica Vela, Joe Hughes, Steve Wamhoff

The poorest fifth of Americans would receive 1 percent of the House reconciliation bill's net tax cuts in 2026 while the richest fifth of Americans would receive two-thirds of the tax cuts. The richest 5 percent alone would receive a little less than half of the net tax cuts that year.

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State Rundown 5/21: Big and Not-So Beautiful Tax Cut Bills Abound in States

• By ITEP Staff

As a sprawling, regressive tax bill continues to take shape at the federal level, many states are moving forward with major tax cut proposals of their own.

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State Rundown 5/7: As Budget Season Heats Up, Tax Proposals Are Getting Serious

• By ITEP Staff

With spring in full bloom ,many state lawmakers are reaching tax policy agreements. Out west, lawmakers in North Dakota and Texas have moved major property tax cuts. Meanwhile, in the east and south, Vermont appears likely to pass an expansion to its Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, and South Carolina lawmakers are aiming to make deep, drastic cuts to the state’s income tax.

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America Has Left the Building: U.S. Loses from Our Global Tax Policy Choices, Others Could Gain

• By Amy Hanauer

Countries that once looked to the U.S. for direction on tax policy have concluded they need to form alliances without us. If so, it will often be to the benefit of other people around the globe and to the deficit of U.S. communities.

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Trump 2025 Tax Law: Research and Resources

• By ITEP Staff

Want to know more about the tax and spending megabill that President Trump recently signed into law? We've got you covered.