News Updates

Two budget-related legislative bills advanced Friday to help offset the cost of Nebraska’s latest core property tax relief plan.

The “absolute minimum” property tax relief plan in the Nebraska Legislature inched closer to passage with small changes Friday, as lawmakers swatted down a proposed “compromise” for counties and municipalities.

Governor Jim Pillen issued the following statement regarding efforts by some senators to water down the local government spending caps in the property tax relief package currently moving through the Legislatuure.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Security Summit partners have announced the availability of a new, updated Written Information Security Plan (WISP) designed to help protect tax professionals against continuing threats from identity thieves and data breaches.

How do you go from teaching and testing material in a set time to providing students time (and multiple testing opportunities) to gain 100% understanding of the material? Find out in this Academic Update feature article.

Gov. Pillen has a new property tax relief plan using LB 9, which was introduced by Sen. Jana Hughes of Seward. Although the proposal still includes the taxation of more than 70 goods and services, it does NOT include the taxation of accounting and legal services, advertising, and cloud or data services. Several property tax relief bills are expected to be combined into LB 9 this afternoon.

Today was Day 7 of the special session of the Nebraska Legislature. In all, 81 bills and 24 constitutional amendments have been introduced since Governor Jim Pillen issued a proclamation calling for a special session to address property tax relief. Legislative rules require all bills to be heard in committee hearings within five days of being referenced to a committee. As such, the Revenue Committee will continue hearings on Saturday, August 3, to wrap up a lengthy six days in a row of committee hearings – including a 10-hour hearing on LB 1!

A bill to expand the child tax credit (CTC) and restore some tax breaks for businesses failed to advance in the Senate on Thursday on a 48-44 vote. Republicans largely opposed the measure, arguing they would be in position to get a better deal next year. The $79bn legislation would have expanded CTC eligibility among the lowest-income families and adjusted payments for inflation for the 2024 and 2025 filing years. It also would have bolstered certain business tax credits, including deductions for research and development, interest expenses and investments in equipment, that were limited in an effort to cap the total costs of former President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut law. Sen. Mike Crapo (RID), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, described the vote as a “blatant attempt to score political points.," adding that Senate Republicans have concerns about the policy, but are willing to negotiate a “child tax credit solution that a majority of Republicans can support.” Sens. Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who caucus with Democrats, also voted against the measure. Without action from Congress, the child tax credit, among other individual tax provisions, will revert to 2017 levels after 2025. “Next year, they’ll have a bigger job to do because you have an underlying credit that’s much more expensive to extend,” said Garrett Watson, senior policy analyst and modeling manager at the Tax Foundation.

Severe storms overnight Wednesday that knocked out electricity for more than 240,000 Nebraskans and downed trees and power lines with gusts of wind up to 100 mph spurred Gov. Jim Pillen to issue a state disaster declaration. Pillen declared a disaster Thursday in six counties: Cass, Douglas, Lancaster, Sarpy, Saunders and Washington.

An Omaha lawmaker is taking an alternative route to provide Nebraskans property tax relief by seeking to decrease the state’s prison population and offer second chances.

City and business leaders in Nebraska say their most powerful tool to spur economic development could be in jeopardy, depending on the property tax relief plan state officials settle on in the special legislative session.

Sen. Linehan says funding for “the ‘needs’ side, though it might need some adjustments, is better than saying, ‘we’ll figure it out later.’”

John Cederberg, CPA of Lincoln presented testimony in regard to the language in Sections 52 and 53 of LB 1. Cederberg submitted a detailed 11-page letter to the Revenue Committee asking the committee to remove the language in LB 1 that would terminate the provision for Nebraska resident shareholders of S corporations, and Nebraska resident members of LLCs, which have active business operations in multiple states to include in their individual Nebraska taxable income only their proportionate share of the S corporation’s or LLC’s Nebraska source taxable income.

Dozens of statewide business, municipal and county leaders lined up Tuesday to testify against Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen’s core property tax proposal. For more than 10 hours, the Legislature’s Revenue Committee listened to varying perspectives about Legislative Bill 1, which Pillen says would reduce the average Nebraskan’s property tax bill by up to 50%. State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the committee chair, introduced the bill on Pillen’s behalf and presided over the committee hearing.

State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln filed a campaign finance complaint against Gov. Jim Pillen on Tuesday, claiming that the first-term governor has misused taxpayer funds to promote his political campaign and his plans to reduce property taxes and slash state spending.

In the midst of numerous proposals facing the Legislature to offer relief to property owners, a measure aimed at carving out help for a different demographic, renters, garnered backing Monday from a dozen supporters. Two of them testified during a public hearing before the Revenue Committee, and 10 others submitted written comments. No one spoke in opposition, but three issued objections in writing.

As introduced, Gov. Jim Pillen’s core property tax relief proposal could fall short by $139 million in annual estimated revenue needed.

Three legislative bills introduced Monday would extend significant property tax relief to Nebraska homeowners based on how long they have owned a home in the state. Legislative Bill 75, from State Sen. Mike McDonnell of Omaha, would exempt qualified Nebraska homeowners from paying any property taxes after 40 years of ownership in the state.

Some lawmakers sent a warning to Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Friday by voting to send the core of his property tax relief proposal to a more unfavorable committee than anticipated.

An alternative tax relief measure to be considered by state lawmakers would exempt from property taxes the first $100,000 of a Nebraskan’s home value.