February 1, 2024 was a good day for promoting the EPIC Option Consumption Tax. What happened on that day affected the consumption tax movement in a very odd way when the Revenue Committee held public hearings on ten of the Governor’s tax bills. I would like to thank Gov. Pillen for convincing several State Senators to introduce tax bills on his behalf which were all designed to shift the tax burden of Nebraskans onto sales taxes without reducing their overall tax burden. The Governor’s new tax plan has caused many people to start paying attention.

The Governor’s tax bills shift more of the overall tax burden onto the state sales tax without solving the problem of higher taxes. The Governor’s plan adds a full percentage point to the state sales tax, resulting in a higher rate of 6.5 percent. Then, the Governor’s tax plan removes sales tax exemptions for farmers, accountants, lawyers, veterinarians, amusement game distributors, and owners of self-storage facilities, just to name a few. The elimination of these sales tax exemptions would bring in millions of new dollars for the State of Nebraska.

Gov. Pillen has the noble goal of reducing property taxes by 40 percent. However, I don’t believe his plan will work. Nebraskans should not except such a statement from me alone. Instead, listen to the people. Hundreds of Nebraskans turned out to voice their opposition to the Governor’s tax plan last Thursday. For example, one of the Governor’s tax bills received 115 online opponents while only three people testified online in favor of the bill, and when Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, chair of the Revenue Committee, called for proponents to come forward to testify in person for another one of the Governor’s tax bills, no one even bothered to show up. The bottom line is that Nebraskans do not like the Governor’s new tax plan.

Nebraskans are opposed to the Governor’s new tax plan because it is an overall tax increase disguised as property tax relief. For example, Sen. Dungan, who is a member of the Revenue Committee, questioned a member of Gov. Pillen’s 35-member tax committee at the hearing only to discover that the 40 percent threshold for property tax relief was nothing more than an arbitrary number contrived by the committee members in order to better sell the Governor’s new tax plan.

The people are no longer falling for these kinds of government tricks. For example, Unicameral Watch is a popular Facebook group which prides itself on monitoring the activities of the state government for purposes of transparency and accountability. Here is their assessment of what transpired in the Revenue Committee that day: “What happened today is a 1 billion dollar tax increase on Nebraska taxpayers…” They further described the Governor’s tax plan as “MASSIVE tax increases” that would “pulverize the poor and Middle Class, young farmers, small business owners and other Nebraskans.” Well, they are exactly right.

The Governor’s tax plan would result in massive border bleed. Border bleed occurs when people purchase products and services cheaper across the state lines. Unlike the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, which would remove hidden taxes from a product, making them cheaper in Nebraska than in other states, Gov. Pillen’s tax plan would have the opposite effect. Why would anyone buy products in Nebraska with a 6.5 percent sales tax rate when they can hop across the border and pay 4 percent in Wyoming? Gov. Pillen’s tax plan would hurt retails sales in border cities such as Omaha and Scottsbluff.

Personally, I am planning now to take full advantage of the border bleed problem that the Governor’s new tax plan will create. Because the Governor intends to remove the sales tax exemption on farm repair parts, I intend to create a new start-up company with a catchy name like “Farm Dash” whereby the company would transport non-taxed farm repair products from Wyoming to farmers living in Nebraska. Farm Dash would pick up and deliver farm repair parts to folks living in Nebraska.

The Governor has betrayed the good citizens of Nebraska. Nebraskans are now in a heap of trouble as far as our tax system goes. Unicameral Watch hit the nail on the head in their article when they said, “Nebraskans better start noticing the signs of a state under severe distress.” They concluded their article by stating that Nebraskans now have “no choice but to pass EPIC…” I heartily agree.