LINCOLN- The Platte Institute on Thursday promoted its support for a proposal to dramatically overhaul Nebraska's tax system as the key to unlock the state's economic future during a legislative summit in Lincoln. The Blueprint Nebraska "tax modernization plan" would reduce state income taxes, broaden the sales tax base to include a range of exempted services and reduce the burden on local property taxes.

The plan would allow taxpayers to earn up to $50,000 free from the state income tax, dedicate an additional $2 billion to property tax relief over the next 10 years and eliminate the state's inheritance tax. While a host of sales tax exemptions would be scrapped, the plan would protect the exemption for food defined as unprepared grocery items.

Senator Lou Ann Linehan, who moderated the tax panel said: "My constituents tell me all the time that tax policy is a concern and a priority." They want a tax system that is "competitive and fair," she said.

Jim Greisch, a panelist and executive at RSM US, a company that provides financial services, said Nebraska's current sales-income-property tax system results in "overdependence on income and property taxes."

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