Last week, I had the honor of participating in a Tele-Town Hall with, I am told, over ten thousand Nebraskans from across the state. On the call that night, I heard from farmers and urban homeowners alike, all of them concerned that the burden of property taxes in Nebraska is simply too high. In a survey conducted during the call, nearly 84% of callers said that property taxes are their #1 priority in terms of lowering taxes in Nebraska. I will readily admit that this poll was taken on a town hall with the stated purpose of discussing property tax relief, but you can still extrapolate this data to mean that over eight thousand Nebraskans took time out of their busy Tuesday evenings, to participate in a town hall because they feel the weight of property taxes looming over their families.
In the middle of last week, my two major property tax relief bills were heard in the Revenue Committee of the Legislature. Dozens of Nebraskans stayed past 8 PM, some of whom had driven four hours or more, and testified in support of property tax reform as a whole as well as in support of both of my bills. There were also Nebraskans who testified with concerns on the bills, and I am always grateful to hear the perspectives of the people whom we represent at the legislature. I can understand not wanting to lose sales tax exemptions after so many years, but the fact of the matter is that – as many proponents testified – America’s economy has been transitioning over the last several decades from manufacturing-based to service-based. In 2017, it makes less sense than ever to leave so many services exempt from taxes. And in a state in which our residents are paying two and a half times the amount of property taxes as they are paying in state sales tax, it makes less sense not to use revenue from an expanded sales tax base to offset the burden of property taxes.
That is precisely what LB 312 and 313 do. There are those in the public sphere, and some who testified at the hearings, attacking my bills as a tax increase, or speculating that the revenue generated by a broaden sales tax base would go to offset the state budget deficit. No Legislature has the ability to write statute which will tie the hands of a future legislative session. But as I clarified during the hearing, the intent of my two bills is to direct all revenue first to offset the greater percentage of their take-home pay which the less fortunate spend on purchases of goods and services, and then to apply all remaining funds to go back, dollar-for-dollar to each and every Nebraska property tax payer. As always, you can reach my office at (402) 471-2631. I look forward to hearing from you!