GRAND ISLAND — Governor Jim Pillen visited Grand Island as part of a series of town hall meetings after the Nebraska Legislature did not make significant changes regarding property taxes.
“Nebraskans across the state have made clear that they expect state leaders to solve the property tax crisis,” said Gov. Pillen. “While we are counting on the Legislature to develop the right solution, all Nebraskans must be part of this conversation. The Legislature failed to pass any property tax relief in the regular session but we will finish the job in a special session.”
The Grand Island event, held on May 17, is of many stops the Governor plans to make ahead of a special session, expected to be scheduled in late July.
During the most recent Unicameral session, Pillen had toured the stated, touting a plan for a 40 percent property tax cut.
“First and foremost, the most important economic issue we face is out of control property taxes,” Pillen said in his address to the Legislature, “High property taxes hurt every Nebraskan in every part of our state and must be fixed now.”
He said property taxes have grown rapidly in the last 15 years and can be traced in part to the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act, signed by then President George W. Bush.
The act required fuel producers to use at least 36 billion gallons of biofuel by 2022.
Farmers worked to take advantage by making their agricultural land more productive and 24 ethanol plants were built across the state, Pillen said.
Also playing a role was the 2008 Great Recession, that Pillen said Nebraska weathered better than other states. He said the county was experiencing a deflationary period, but state government continued to grow, and politically popular tax cuts were made.
Pillen said all of this has led to a situation where, “transformative,” property tax reform is needed. He added that Nebraskans are, “being taxed out of their homes.”
One part of Pillen’s plan is a hard cap to control spending.
Pillen also plans to shrink government and spend less and less each year from actual expenses.
In his opinion, Pillen said that state government’s responsibility rests in safety, education and infrastructure. He said the government should do more with less and being fiscally conservative during times of plenty will be better down the road during the lean times.
On Friday, Pillen said he believes he has the support of enough state senators to call a special session.
He noted that property, sales and income tax fund the government and added that income tax won’t be considered. Pillen said that the current income tax is “competitive,” with Iowa and will be 3.99 by 2027.
Pillen said he is undertaking these town hall meetings because, “the truth gets mixed up when you get inside the steps of the capital with paid special interests groups…we need to make sure we can get the truth out to Nebraskans.”
The next town hall meeting is to be held on Friday, May 24 at 9 a.m. at the Beatrice Public Library.
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