I want to thank the Lincoln County Farm Bureau for hosting me at a town hall meeting at the McKinley Education Center this past Saturday night. It was a great opportunity to hear from constituents firsthand on issues important to them.

I began the meeting by updating those in attendance on the Special Session and what I believe was accomplished. Clearly, the session fell short of the Governor’s expectations, but frontloading the LB1107 income tax credit and setting up a mechanism to fund additional direct property tax relief was important. It was also important to ensure that, going forward, the local property taxing authority of cities and counties will be capped at a rate in line with inflation and real growth. Additionally, the body was able to engage in some good discussion on what items currently exempt from sales tax could, in fact, be added back to the sales tax rolls to provide additional property tax relief.

The pushback from the urban Senators on expanding the sales tax base demonstrated why the EPIC consumption tax is unlikely to ever pass the Legislature. Further, if a version of this tax were to pass by a ballot initiative, the ability to return dollars to rural Nebraska would be very challenging. It is for that reason that I remain focused on finding ways to increase funding for the new property tax credit that taxpayers will begin to see on their 2024 property tax statement, which should be sent out in early December.

Remember that the property tax credit you will receive this year will represent the dollars that would have been paid out in an income tax credit in 2025 for those who paid their school property taxes for 2023 in the 2024 calendar year. Thus, we “front-loaded” the 2023 income tax credit to a property tax credit in 2024, thus eliminating the need to file for the public school income tax credit. For those who escrow their property taxes with their house payment, you will see a house payment reduction due to the net reduction in 2023 property taxes due in 2024 once your mortgage servicer recalculates your new escrow. Keep in mind that you may see an increase in insurance costs that would reduce the total payment reduction since they too would be included in your escrow payments, but regardless, your former sales tax credit is now coming early in the form of a direct property tax credit as outlined in LB34.

For those suggesting that there is a “lost year,” it should be noted that once your real estate is sold, the seller (owner) would be required to pay real estate taxes current at the time of the sale. The so called “lost year” would be made up then with a reduced property tax payment.

There has also been much discussion this past week regarding “winner take all” as it relates to the allocation of electoral votes in Nebraska. Each state can decide if they wish to allocate their electoral votes for President based on statewide results or by Congressional District. Nebraska has five electoral votes, one for each of our U.S. Senators and one for each of our three Congressional Districts. Nebraska has voted Republican for many decades on a statewide basis. The third Congressional District overwhelmingly votes Republican, and the first district (Lincoln and several eastern Nebraska counties) generally also votes Republican. The second district, however, which is essentially the Omaha metro area and parts of Sarpy and Saunders Counties, is considered a very “purple” district that swings back and forth between voting Republican and Democrat.

Nebraska is one of two states in the union that currently allocates electoral votes by district. Maine is the other state. Nebraska is generally a red state that votes Republican and Maine is a blue state that votes Democrat. In all likelihood, if the two states would both adopt the winner-take-all method, they would likely have no effect on the election.

So how did we get here? In 1991, the Nebraska legislature adopted LB115, introduced by then-state Senator Dianna Schimek, to cast electoral votes by district. The bill passed with 25 votes and was signed into law by then-Governor Ben Nelson. The rationale was that other states would follow our lead and more candidates would come to Nebraska. No states followed, and three years later, the first of several attempts to reverse the law began. Keep in mind that California has 54 electoral votes, and they are a winner-take-all state. Does anyone ever see the Democrats in California giving up that advantage? My view is that Nebraska should conform to other states and put us on an equal playing field. It is unlikely that a special session will be called to address this issue yet this year since the votes do not seem to be there to pass such a bill with the emergency clause (33 votes). I do, however, expect that this issue will return before the 2028 General Election.

It is a privilege to represent you in the Nebraska Legislature, and I look forward to hearing from you regarding issues that are important to you. I can be reached at 402-471-2729 or by emailing me at mjacobson@leg.ne.gov.