Gov. Ricketts: Some tax relief better than none

Friday, April 6, 2018

McCOOK, Neb. — Something is better than nothing when it comes to property tax relief, Gov. Pete Ricketts said.

Visiting with the McCook Gazette Thursday, Gov. Ricketts said it’s unacceptable for the state to go two years in a row without getting anything done on property tax relief.

Speaking of his property tax relief bill, LB 947, “Nobody is going to get everything they want, but if everybody gets a little, that’s better,” Gov. Ricketts said. “Or it’s 100 percent of nothing this year.”

The bill, Nebraska Property Tax Cuts and Opportunities Act (LB 947). would provide a refundable state income tax credit for homeowners and agricultural landowners equal to 2 percent of their property taxes paid beginning this year, increasing in increments for the next 10 years for a total of 20 percent. If enacted, this measure along with the existing Property Tax Credit Relief Fund would deliver over $4.5 billion in property tax relief over the next 10 years.

But, the bill is having a tough time advancing, with many state senators saying it’s too little, too late and that it doesn’t address the school funding formula that puts agriculture property owners at a disadvantage.

One of those senators is Dan Hughes of District 44. His mostly rural, 10-county district — Perkins, Chase, Hayes, Dundy, Frontier, Hitchcock, Red Willow, Furnace, Gosper and Harlan — consists of 37,056 residents, the majority being long-time ag producers. For him, the bill as it stands now offers no real help to his constituents.

“True, the numbers over 10 years look huge but agriculture property taxpayers need significant help now, not 10 years from now, he said. “Many of our farmers will not be around in 10 years.”

Hughes also had concerns about whether the bill could be sustainable. “There’s no guarantee the legislature will follow through, especially if we have a downturn in the economy,” he said.

Ricketts, up for re-election this year, said the high level of property taxes “didn’t get there overnight” and the only way to offset that quickly would be to raise taxes, such as on sales tax or cigarettes, something he is adamant about not doing “It’s not true tax relief if you raise somebody’s elses’ taxes to pay for another,” he said. Instead, he said LB 947 provides property tax relief without raising taxes because of careful pruning of the budget, controlled government spending and reduced growth in government.

Lawmakers are still working on a compromise to the bill, Ricketts said Thursday, declining to give details. No date has been set yet for the bill’s re-appearance but it’s likely to be soon, with the legislative session ending Wednesday, April 18.

Amendments to the LB 947 include reducing the top individual and corporate income tax rates to 6.69 percent by 2020 and transfers $10 million to a job training fund, according to the Unicameral Update, the Nebraska State Legislature website. It would direct the state treasurer to transfer $5 million from the state’s cash reserve fund to a job training fund and approximately $34 million to the state’s general fund to cover the proposal’s cost for the first year.

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  • Senator Hughes is right to not support this bill. Nebraska needs other forms of revenue. The Unicameral should have passed the sales tax on internet sales.

    -- Posted by dennis on Fri, Apr 6, 2018, at 2:12 PM
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