Dear Small Business Owner,

Let me ask you this: What is the lifeblood of Nebraska's financial health? Easy question, you say. It's money. However – who contributes the most to Nebraska's financial health? It's not big business. It's you – the small business owner.

You provide the jobs.

You provide the services.

You pay the taxes.

Why is it then that when it comes to the Unicameral, you are all but invisible?

Your needs, your ideas, your input is all but ignored. When not outright ignored, you're given lip service and your suggestions are left to wither and die of neglect.

Our elected representatives hear an awful lot from the special interest lobbyists. They don't hear very much from you, me and other taxpayers. There are two good reasons:

The first is a case of selective deafness. They don't want to hear from you.

The second is a simple matter of time. You don't have enough of it. You spend your time working, raising families and paying taxes. Even if you do follow politics you don't have the time to attend the public hearings – which of course are held when you're busy trying to make a buck and pay those taxes. And you certainly don't have the extra time to scour government budgets and financial spreadsheets, trying to make sense of it all.

Recently a friend compared your plight with that of the gopher video game at Chuck E. Cheese's. Basically you get a mallet to strike gophers as they randomly pop out of their holes. If you manage to smack a gopher here or there, two or three others take their place. It's just like that with taxes. Even if one tax is held steady, two or three new ones are proposed to make up the "slack.' New taxes, new laws, new mandates are passed until you find your insurance costs soaring, your services costing more and more each year, and your property taxes literally going through the roof.

It's not just Nebraska that wants your hard earned cash. Mandates from the federal government consume 14% of the national income alone! Our local taxing authorities are required to meet these mandates or pay hefty fines. If Nebraska just says no to the mandates, then Uncle Sam simply withholds federal funding for any number of state projects. Funding that comes from our tax dollars. We are literally being blackmailed with our own money if we don't dance to the governments tune!

One recent example are the new medical privacy laws. Compliance officers now must be added to the State's payroll. Additional paperwork is also thrown into an already overburdened health care system.

Does any one have any ideas how to stop this mess? Well, as a matter of fact Yes.

Dr. Lou Burger of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce recently suggested several changes, including:

• Revisions to the budgeting process

• Caps on Medicaid spending

• Restructuring the state's health insurance programs,

• Tax-free Internet Zone commerce

• Competing on an even level with neighboring states

Unfortunately, without a coordinated effort to educate voters, none of these changes will take place.

Nebraska Taxpayers Association recently filed two petitions. The first would reduce the number of signatures required on petitions to a reasonable number and the other puts tax increases to a vote of the taxpayers.

Remember when the Unicameral was faced with a budget deficit? They added new taxes to cleaning services and accounting firms but not attorneys.

The result? Small business went under and overall revenue fell. When asked why attorneys were not taxed, the Senators said Nebraska didn't need that much money!

If both of NTA's petitions passed, the citizens of Nebraska could either file a petition rescinding the taxes, or add a service tax on attorneys' fees. Petitioning isn't always about avoiding taxes. Sometimes it's about tax fairness.

The Libertarian Party of Nebraska has a BIG IDEA. (You've heard of the Libertarians, right? The party that thinks your money should stay in your pocket, and that the taxpayer is not every politicians personal cash cow!)

We want to send letters to all the registered voters of Nebraska explaining Nebraska's Second House - the citizens - and what you and they need to know so that we all can vote more effectively and make our State more competitive.

We need your help. Mailings aren't cheap and staff is expensive (as if you didn't know that already!) Possibly you have someone in your marketing staff who would/could help in designing mailers. Or you could donate to an effort to take back Nebraska's competitive edge. Sending $50 would help but $500 or even $5000 could reach so many more voters. If you would like to visit with us and self-direct your funding, please call me at 1-888-317-9666. I'll be glad to personally sit down with you and discuss what we all can do together to make Nebraska small business friendly.

Sincerely

P.S. Even if you can't contribute at this time, I'd love to hear from you and let you know how the Libertarians are working for a better Nebraska.