School Zone: No Taxes
By: Mr. Wilson on
July 31, 2008
Lincoln State Senator Bill Avery wants Nebraska to follow Iowa's lead and have an annual tax holiday during the back-to-school shopping season. It seems like an awfully Omaha-centric proposal. Who, besides folks in the Omaha metro, rushes to Iowa to shop every year? Consider folks driving from Lincoln. Let's say you spend $15 on gas getting to Council Bluffs and back. If you save 5% on taxes, you would need to spend $300 just to break even. And that's without factoring in the two hours of time you just lost. You don't value your time at $0/hour, do you?
(Pst, if you do go to Council Bluffs, be sure to fill up your gas tank at the station just east of Ameristar. Cheapest I've found in the area.)
Maybe the problem is much greater in Omaha. But is it great enough that we would recoup the costs of applying this program across the state? Where's an economist when you really need one?
The LJS article includes this bit:
Avery says he’s “tired of seeing parking lots in Council Bluffs full of cars with Nebraska license plates” and that he can’t blame Nebraskans for crossing the river. he plans to introduce a bill for a sales tax holiday next legislative session.Well now I'm curious. What is Bill Avery doing hanging out at Council Bluffs shopping malls?