Property tax relief proponents on Monday urged state senators to amend Gov. Pete Ricketts' tax reform package to focus on property taxes rather than income tax reduction or kill the legislative bill.Â
"We would prefer no bill over a bill that is $10 of income tax cuts to $1 of property tax reform," Mark Fahleson of Lincoln told a telephone news conference.
The tax bill (LB461) sponsored by Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, which incorporates the governor's proposals, is scheduled for debate on Tuesday afternoon before it confronts a decisive vote to determine whether it can break loose from a filibuster.
A test vote 11 days ago on a motion to return the bill to the Revenue Committee left the package four votes short of the 33 that will be required on Tuesday to free it from a filibuster that would trap the proposal and remove it from the legislative agenda.
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Fahleson, chairman of Reform for Nebraska's Future, said Nebraskans need and want property tax relief, not the income tax cuts proposed by businesses and "special interests."
A new poll of 500 likely general election voters conducted on April 27-30 showed that 55 percent of Nebraskans singled out property taxes as too high compared to 15 percent who point to income taxes, Fahleson said.
Seventy-two percent of those polled in the survey said they are more likely to vote for a candidate if he or she has supported property tax reform, Fahleson said. The survey was conducted by Harper Polling.
The tax package supported by Smith and Ricketts "needs to be flipped" through amendments that place the overwhelming emphasis on property tax relief, Fahleson said.
"LB461 needs a massive overhaul," he said.Â
"Compromise is not an ugly term," Fahleson said, but his organization has received "no positive messages from the governor or from Sen. Smith."
"We hope the bill gets rejected or completely amended," he said.
"If nothing changes, we strongly encourage the Legislature to kill the bill."