Press Release

We three State Senators, Steve Erdman (LD47), Steve Halloran (LD33), and Justin Wayne (LD13) have important information to report about the tax relief bill that was passed during the special session. LB 34 contains important language that will affect the 2023 property tax credit that taxpayers are entitled to receive on their 2024 income tax return. Because the language of the bill put an end to the rebate beginning January 1, 2024, taxpayers will not be able to claim the 30 percent property tax rebate that is owed them on their 2024 income tax return.

LB34 pulls a slight-of-hand tactic on property owners. The bill front loads the 30 percent property tax credit that goes to the schools so that it becomes automatic. In the future taxpayers won’t have to claim it as a credit on their state income tax return, and that part of the bill is good. However, the bill also eliminates the property tax credit for the year 2023, and that’s the bad news, which in turn makes it a property tax increase for 2023. 

The State of Nebraska needs to rectify this problem. For example, if the credit on a person’s 2023 property tax statement is worth $1,000, then in 2025 he or she should receive the $1,000 owed him from the credit plus an additional $1,000 for his 2024 property taxes which have now been front loaded for a total of $2,000. Instead, that individual will only receive the $1,000 which has been front loaded onto his 2024 property taxes. 

There are two ways that the State Legislature can fix this problem. The first way would be to allow taxpayers to claim the credit for their 2023 property taxes when they file their 2024 income tax returns. The second way would be to double the front-loaded credit that property owners will receive in 2025. Last year $565 million dollars was credited to property owners in the form of the property tax credit. Consequently, the State of Nebraska is holding approximately $700 million of money belonging to the taxpayers who never filed for the credit and they have no intention of ever returning it to the taxpayers. Whose money is it?