Press Release
September 9, 2024

We three State Senators, Steve Erdman (LD47), Steve Halloran (LD33), and Justin Wayne (LD13) have important information to report about the tax relief bill that was passed during the special session. LB 34 contains important language that will affect the 2023 property tax credit that taxpayers are entitled to receive on their 2024 income tax return. Because the language of the bill put an end to the rebate beginning January 1, 2024, taxpayers will not be able to claim the 30 percent property tax rebate that is owed them on their 2024 income tax return.

LB34 pulls a slight-of-hand tactic on property owners. The bill front loads the 30 percent property tax credit that goes to the schools so that it becomes automatic. In the future taxpayers won’t have to claim it as a credit on their state income tax return, and that part of the bill is good. However, the bill also eliminates the property tax credit for the year 2023, and that’s the bad news, which in turn makes it a property tax increase for 2023.

The State of Nebraska needs to rectify this problem. For example, if the credit on a person’s 2023 property tax statement is worth $1,000, then in 2025 he or she should receive the $1,000 owed him from the credit plus an additional $1,000 for his 2024 property taxes which have now been front loaded for a total of $2,000. Instead, that individual will only receive the $1,000 which has been front loaded onto his 2024 property taxes.

There are two ways that the State Legislature can fix this problem. The first way would be to allow taxpayers to claim the credit for their 2023 property taxes when they file their 2024 income tax returns. The second way would be to double the front-loaded credit that property owners will receive in 2025. Last year $565 million dollars was credited to property owners in the form of the property tax credit. Consequently, the State of Nebraska is holding approximately $700 million of money belonging to the taxpayers who never filed for the credit and they have no intention of ever returning it to the taxpayers. Whose money is it?

Press Release
June 20, 2024
“A New Tax Revolt”
By Sen. Steve Erdman, LD 47

Are you satisfied with your property valuation? The time has come to revolt. Nebraskans will never be heard until we collectively decide to protest our valuations. Protesting valuations is the most cost-efficient way to lead a tax rebellion. Therefore, I want to encourage every property owner in Nebraska to file a protest. Form 422 must be delivered in person to the county clerk or mailed with a postmark no later than June 30, 2024. Instructions for filing and Form 422 can be found on the Nebraska Department of Revenue’s website at https://revenue.nebraska.gov. Let this be the year when our elected officials hear our collective cry against unabated and ever-increasing property taxes.

Sen. Steve Erdman, LD 47

Press Release:

On Monday Gov. Jim Pillen announced that he has put together a working group to explore new ways to reform property valuations. The public needs to know that there is no way for the government to reform the property valuation process, except by eliminating the property tax system altogether.

The Nebraska State Legislature has been trying to fix the property tax system ever since it was introduced back in 1967. Nebraska’s property tax system is an experiment in taxation which has gone wrong and cannot be fixed. Most recently LB 1107 which passed in 2020 and LB 243 and LB 754 which passed earlier this year have done nothing more than slightly reduce the amount of your ever-increasing property taxes. The fact of the matter is that your property valuations and your property taxes will continue to go up each year that the current system remains in place.

Nebraskans no longer have time to wait for another government working group to try and solve a problem which cannot be fixed. Blueprint Nebraska was a working group which could not fix the tax problem last year and we are fooling ourselves to think that this new working group will do any better. At best, any solution this working group proposes will be like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Time has run out for trying to fix the property tax system and the data clearly shows that people all across the United States are now leaving high tax states for states with an overall low tax burden.

There is proposed legislation. That legislation is called the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, which would eliminate the property tax, the state income tax, the state sales tax, and the inheritance tax and replace all of these taxes with a consumption tax on personal services and new goods for consumption at a rate of only 7.5 percent. This is the only solution for fixing the valuation problem. To learn more about the EPIC Option Consumption Tax, please visit the website at www.epicoption.org.

Sen, Steve Erdman, LD47
Sen. Steve Halloran, LD33

A press conference for the EPIC Option Consumption Tax will be held in the Capitol rotunda in Lincoln on January 5, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. Members of the press are encouraged to attend in order to hear what significant changes to the legislation have been made for 2023.

State Senator Steve Erdman endorses Brian Hardin for Legislature.

I appreciate all of the candidates who have stepped forward this year to run for public office, especially those interested in serving in the Nebraska State Legislature. I have often been asked who I support in the race for Legislative District 48.

After visiting with both candidates and watching the forum held on October 11, I believe Brian Hardin has a more thorough understanding of the issues that are most relevant for the 48th district. Brian’s ability to speak to these issues in a clear and concise manner will also serve him well as a State Senator. Brian’s traditional roots growing up on a farm in Mitchell Valley as well as his diverse background will enable him to bring to the State Legislature the unique skill set needed to represent District 48 as well as all of Western Nebraska. For these reasons I am hereby endorsing Brian Hardin for the Nebraska State Legislature.

I would like to thank Sen. Dave Murman for calling this press conference. Parents, not educators, are responsible for the teaching of children. Public schools should educate children on the facts of history, not indoctrinate them with Critical Race Theory, which deliberately distorts these facts in order to push an erroneous Left-wing, Woke narrative about our nation’s founding, its history, and its heritage. Due to the recent underhanded tactics of the Department of Education to reform Nebraska’s sex-ed curriculum, I believe an investigation into the teaching CRT in Nebraska’s public schools is now warranted.

The nationally acclaimed economist, Art Laffer, will be dining with Nebraska State Senators Thursday evening, May 6 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. at the Hruska Law Center to discuss the economics of the consumption tax for Nebraska.

Economic Development Grant Announcement – Small Business and Livestock Producers

Are you a Nebraska college student interested in becoming a page for the Nebraska State Legislature for the 2020 Legislative session? If so, I want to encourage you to apply for an open page position. Details from the Clerk of the Legislature’s office are below.

Description: Legislative pages are selected in the fall each year to work for the upcoming legislative session, beginning the following January. Pages respond to Senator’s request lights on the legislative floor. They run errands, deliver messages, photocopy materials, get food and drink for the Senators, assist the presiding officer, set up and staff committee hearings and perform other duties as assigned.

Requirements: Pages must be high school graduates who are currently enrolled in a Nebraska college or trade school with a minimum grade point average of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale. They must be able to work 20 hours a week during session. It is preferred that they work the same four-hour shift each day. The legislative session will begin January 8, 2020, and go through April 2020. This is a paid position and you may also be able to receive credit hours through your college.

Parking: Parking is limited. There are no reserved parking facilities available. Most street parking around the Capitol is two-hour parking. The city will ticket if you park longer. We suggest that you may want to park on the side streets or carpool with other pages.

To Apply: Applications are available through the Clerk of the Legislature’s office, Room 2018, State Capitol, 1445 K Street, or through your state Senator’s office. A page applicant is also encouraged to contact his or her home district state senator for a letter of recommendation. If you do not know who your senator is, please contact the Clerk of the Legislature’s office for assistance. When you have completed the application, please return it to the Clerk of the Legislature’s office, Room 2018, State Capitol, 1445 K Street, Lincoln NE 68509, or email it to unicampages@leg.ne.gov.

Deadline: The page application deadline for the 2020 legislative session will be Friday, October 4, 2019, at 5 p.m. The page selection committee will meet shortly after the October 4 deadline to interview and select individuals to fill those positions to start January 8, 2020.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call my office at (402) 471-2616.

This year the Nebraska State Legislature passed LB 512. I, Nebraska State Sen. Steve Erdman, was able to amend the bill with property tax relief for those with destroyed real property. Those with significant damage to their real property exceeding 20 percent of the property’s assessed value and caused by a calamity may have their property reassessed for property tax purposes.  The reassessed value of the destroyed property will become the value of the property for the whole tax year.

Those with destroyed property must submit Form 425. The form may be accessed on the Department of Revenue’s website or by following this link to the form: Form 425. The deadline to file is July 15.  After filing the form the county board of equalization will review the Report of Destroyed Real Property and make any adjustments to the assessed value of the property for the current tax year.

Calamity means a disastrous event, including but not limited to, a fire, an earthquake, a flood, a tornado, or other natural event which significantly affects the assessed value of the property. If you have any questions, please contact your county assessor’s office or your county clerk’s office.