Gov. Jim Pillen laid out an ambitious goal Monday of reducing local property taxes by 40% while providing few details on how the state would do that.
One week after floating a much-panned idea of raising state sales taxes, the first-term Republican called a press conference to discuss the “growth and impacts of skyrocketing property taxes” in Nebraska. He said he’s seeking a $2 billion reduction or shift in taxes away from much-despised property taxes via some combination of a tougher lids on local spending and broadening the sales tax base.
But when reporters asked Pillen over and over for details about which sales tax exemptions should be repealed and whether he supports raising sales taxes, he demurred, saying he planned to work with the 49 senators in the State Legislature to come up with a proposal that reduces local property taxes from $5 billion in total to $3 billion.