Gov. Jim Pillen has a mission to reduce property taxes in Nebraska.
But at least one state lawmaker says the blame for high tax levels doesn’t rest with the state Capitol but rather at elected officials at the community and county levels.
Pillen often refers to Nebraska having a three-legged stool of income, sales and property taxes, saying they should all be about equal.
According to the governor’s website, Nebraskans paid $3.6 billion in individual and corporate income taxes in 2023, $2.3 billion in sales and use taxes and $5.3 billion in property taxes.
But state Sen. Rob Dover of Norfolk said don’t blame the Legislature for high property taxes, pointing out that in 1967, state lawmakers handed the responsibility for property taxes to county and municipal entities.
During a recent interview with WJAG Radio, Dover said, “If you think your property taxes are too high, that is because the people they locally elect are spending too much money. Everything is totally within your control at the election box every two years.”
Dover was quick to share that he thinks the elected officials at the county and municipal levels in Madison County do a good job of controlling spending.
DURING HIS time as a state lawmaker, Dover has been a staunch fiscal conservative, advocating for spending cuts and lower taxes. But Dover said there are items he’d consider adding to the tax rolls.
“I think there are some easy decisions, like vape,” Dover said. “If you have vape and vape’s not getting taxed like cigarettes, then I think we could tax vape. We could tax soda pop. I mean, soda pop at the fountain is taxed, but it’s not taxed in the stores.”
Dover said he’d support those new taxes only if tax rates or spending were cut somewhere else.
“If you just raise taxes when money’s tight, they’re just going to keep spending,” he said.
A FORECAST revenue shortfall is causing the Legislature to make unpopular cuts. But Dover said they need to be the right cuts.
State lawmakers need to fund the government’s top priorities, such as public safety and public health, but they also can’t stop funding what he calls “the future of Nebraska.”
“Nebraska, we’re in a tough spot,” Dover said. “We don’t have minerals. We don’t have a national monument in our backyard. We don’t have a lot of things, but we’ve got good people. We have water. But water and natural resources, I don’t think we’re going to be taxing that anytime soon.”
Dover added that he’s not in favor of cutting public health and dual enrollment programs.
You can hear Dover’s entire interview with Jeffrey Steffen on the “podcasts” page at WJAG.com.
