Agriculture and education groups joined in line formation Tuesday to urge Nebraska's elected officials to make property tax reform and school funding their top priority this year.
Without mentioning them by name, the groups took direct aim at proposed income tax cuts by Gov. Pete Ricketts and state Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, chairman of the Legislature's Revenue Committee.
Lagging income and sales tax receipts have already positioned the state to fall $900 million short on its obligations over the next two years, said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union.
"It's fairly obvious that you can't continue to meet those obligations adequately, much less deal with the inequities in how we fund education, by pursuing an income tax cut," Hansen told reporters in the Capitol Rotunda, flanked by about 50 representatives from 16 groups. "That goes, in our view, clearly in the wrong direction."
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The coalition calls itself Nebraskans United for Property Tax Reform and Education and brings together such disparate groups as the Nebraska State Education Association and the Nebraska Farm Bureau.
They represent 98 percent of the state's schools and a significant share of its farmers and ranchers.
Nebraska schools are funded through a combination of local property tax revenue and assistance from state and federal governments. But a vast majority of districts receive very little state aid, leaving property taxpayers to foot much of the bill.
Farmers and ranchers provide the most extreme example. They make up about 3 percent of the state population but pay nearly one-third of its property taxes, said Doug Nienhauser, a York-area farmer and leader of the group Nebraska Fair.
Ricketts' income tax cut proposal (LB337) is backed by business groups including the Nebraska, Omaha and Lincoln chambers of commerce and the Lincoln Independent Business Association.
A spokesman said the governor's proposals include property tax reform as well, noting a second measure (LB338) that would tax agricultural land based on its ability to generate income, not on its sales value.
"Getting both bills done this year is key to bridging the urban-rural divide and growing Nebraska," said Ricketts spokesman Taylor Gage.
Members of the property tax and education coalition said years of legislative studies and recent public opinion polling show substantial property tax reform should be the top focus of state lawmakers.
"This should be priority No. 1 throughout the legislative session," said Mike Lucas, superintendent of York Public Schools and president of a lobbying group that includes 15 midsize school districts.
The coalition stopped short of endorsing any specific proposals to fund property tax reform, such as raising sales or income tax rates, or eliminating certain sales tax exemptions.
Hansen called those "minor differences" in comparison with their overall goal.
On that, he said, "We are joined at the hip."
