Political Science, Department of
First Advisor
Dr. Ursula Kreitmair
Second Advisor
Dr. Elizabeth Theiss-Morse
Third Advisor
Dr. Geoff Lorenz
Date of this Version
Spring 5-5-2023
Citation
Gold, Taylor. 2023. "The Impacts of Local Property Taxes on Nebraska's State Legislator Elections and State Legislator Voting."
Abstract
Throughout Nebraska’s history, concerns about the state’s property tax policy are one of, if not the most, discussed policy issues. Despite Nebraska’s emphasis on local fiscal control, state-level policy reforms shape the state’s property tax landscape. This seemingly contradictory emphasis on providing a state-level solution to a local policy problem leads this study to ask whether state legislative officials are held electorally accountable for legislative actions on local property tax and whether they are directly held accountable for changes in local property taxes. This study investigates this potential relationship through novel data collection on Nebraska’s state legislator elections, legislative actions, and analysis on the relationship between their actions and aggregated district level property taxes, finding limited statistically significant relationships between property taxes and legislative actions, but no statistically significant relationships between property tax and electoral accountability.
Advisor: Ursula Kreitmair
Comments
A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Major: Political Science, Under the Supervision of Professor Ursula Kreitmair. Lincoln, Nebraska: April 28, 2023
Copyright © 2023 Taylor Gold