Nebraska Farm Bureau urges state to broaden tax base

The president of Nebraska’s largest general farm organization called on Gov. Pete Ricketts and members of the Nebraska Legislature to pass legislation initiating state tax reform that would broaden Nebraska’s sales tax base as a means to offset and reduce the reliance on property taxes.

“Residential, commercial and agricultural property taxpayers are being punished by a broken tax system,” Nebraska Farm Bureau President Steve Nelson said during his annual address to attendees at the Nebraska Farm Bureau annual meeting and convention on Dec. 5.

“It’s time for the governor and every state senator who campaigned on the promise of addressing property taxes to step up and address this issue head on,” Nelson said.

Nebraskans now pay the seventh highest property taxes in the nation, with property taxes accounting for almost half (48 percent) of the revenue from the three main sources of property taxes, state sales taxes and state income taxes.

Nelson also said the property tax problem isn’t just a major issue for farmers and ranchers, pointing to a coalition of homeowners, businesses and agriculture interests that recently formed to oppose and successfully defeat a $369 million community college bond in southeast Nebraska. Nebraska Farm Bureau and its members partnered in the effort.

"The voice of Nebraska taxpayers is rising," Nelson said. "Nebraskans want tax reform that fixes the property tax problem."