On July 30 a public hearing was held at the State Capitol in Lincoln on LB 16. LB 16 is the latest and most updated version of the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, which I introduced for the special session of the Legislature. According to the Governor’s proclamation only bills which focus on property tax relief may be considered for the special session.

The public hearing was outstanding for the EPIC Option Consumption Tax. One member of the Revenue Committee commented afterwards that nearly 100 private citizens had come out to testify in favor of the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, while only two paid lobbyists bothered to show up in person to testify in opposition to it.

The online comments that were submitted on LB 16 had similar results. There were 85 proponents of the EPIC Option Consumption Tax compared to only nine opponents.

I am overwhelmed by the tremendous amount of support that the EPIC Option Consumption Tax received from the public at the hearing. Some concerned citizens drove as much as eight hours to testify for only three minutes before the members of the Legislature’s Revenue Committee. By both big numbers and by telling their own personal stories, these citizens made a huge impact on the committee members. No one could have sat through that hearing without being moved by the stories of taxpayers who were struggling to pay their property taxes.

One particular woman who testified in person at the hearing struggled to hold back her tears as she told her own personal story of how she had to make the very difficult decision to sell the family ranch. The ranch had been homesteaded by her grandfather and willed to her by her father back in 1994. However, by 2011 she could no longer afford to pay the property taxes and had to sell it.

Another woman who submitted an online testimony wrote about how she and her husband pay more in property taxes each year on their farmland than what they originally paid for the land back in 1989.

A landlord, whose property taxes have doubled within past ten years, testified online about how Nebraska’s property tax system is forcing him to evict seniors who live on a fixed income. He wrote, “It breaks my heart when a fixed income renter has to move out because they can’t afford to pay rent anymore.”

Without these kinds of pertinent testimonies, State Senators in Lincoln and Omaha would have little idea about the severity of the burden of our property tax system and the predicament that it is putting property owners in. More and more Nebraskans are finding themselves in the difficult position of having to decide whether or not they can afford to continue living in Nebraska.

Something has to be done immediately to stop the bleeding from our overburdening property tax system. On July 23 the National Mortgage News published a report of states where mortgage delinquencies are increasing the most. Nebraska now ranks at number two. The only state where mortgage delinquencies are rising at a faster pace than Nebraska is the state of Vermont. Moreover, the USDA continues to rank Nebraska as the third highest state for farm and ranch bankruptcies.

State Senators at the Capitol in Lincoln are finally getting the message that real tax reform is needed in Nebraska. It is my sincere hope and desire that the Unicameral Legislature will be able to pass legislation that will result in meaningful and significant property tax relief.