Property tax debate to pick up Friday as Nebraska lawmakers continue to seek broader relief

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LINCOLN — Lawmakers delayed second-round debate Thursday night on the Nebraska Legislature’s core property tax relief plan, in part to provide more time to finish crafting amendments.

The final hours of debate on Legislative Bill 34 , the latest tax package originally introduced by State Sen. Tom Brewer of north-central Nebraska, could represent a last-chance push for 13 term-limited lawmakers to help offer more significant tax relief before leaving office.

“If we’re going to get one shot to move this in the right way, let’s take one shot, the right way,” State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha said during debate.

State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln saw it differently. She led opposition to LB 34 and its 122-page committee amendment Tuesday, one of various plans backed by Gov. Jim Pillen that she panned as a “ reverse Robin Hood scheme ” to raise taxes on low-income Nebraskans while cutting taxes for  large landowners, including the governor.

“It seems proponents of the ‘Pillen Plan’ have brought forward a new counter attack, a new sneak attack here at 8 o’clock at night,” Conrad told her colleagues Thursday.

Latest proposed sales tax exemptions

State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn offered individual motions as of Thursday night that would add new sales taxes to the following services:

• Swimming pool cleaning and maintenance services.
• Lawn care and landscaping services.
• Dating services.
• Fishing and hunting guides.
• Tour operator services.
• Travel agency services.
• Sightseeing services by ground vehicles.
• Local passenger transportation by chartered road vehicles, including limousines and similar luxury vehicles.
• Cleaning of clothing (excluding coin-operated laundering).
• Nail care services.
• Tattoo and body modification services.
• Storage and moving services.

No full-fledged amendment has been filed for LB 34. Instead, State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the Revenue Committee chair, offered more than a dozen amendments , in part to end various sales tax exemptions , before she offered the adjournment motion. It passed 25-10 .

Linehan said that most of the sales tax exemptions on the latest list were not criticized during a 10-hour hearing on LB 1, which she introduced on behalf of Pillen. LB 1 included more than 100 exemptions slated for removal. LB 34, as advanced, had more than 70 .

“I want Nebraskans to know what we’re actually talking about,” she said.

Linehan has also filed amendments that would allow constitutional amendments to appear on the November election and allow special elections in odd-numbered years to override property tax collections caps for county and municipal governments.

State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston filed an amendment to change the cap on how much local governments can take in for property taxes year over year to the greater of 3% or the Consumer Price Index — the same level it was at in April after months of negotiations.

LB 34 would set the cap at 0%, in times of deflation, or at the level of inflation, based on the State and Local Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment index.

As LB 34 sits, with $185 million more in tax credits, it would provide 3% new relief from the total $5.3 billion in property taxes collected last year.

Debate on LB 34 will begin at 9 a.m. Friday, for about three hours. Lawmakers will then move on to Legislative Resolution 2CA from State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, related to property valuations for owner-occupied housing , and two state budget – related bills.

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