Fixing the Governor's tax plan
The Governor’s new property tax relief plan for the special session is in deep trouble. Last Thursday the Legislature voted to adjourn until Monday, August 12, in order to fix several problems in the bill and to garner more support for it. LB9 along with AM51 is getting tossed about like a wave of the sea without enough votes to get it passed. It is not my intention today to sink the Governor’s property tax relief bill; instead, I want to save it. Last Thursday I offered Nebraska State Senators a way to fix the Governor’s tax plan in order to make it work for Nebraska. Today I would like to share the three most important changes for fixing the Governor’s new tax plan.
The first item in the Governor’s new tax plan which needs to be fixed is the part which places a two percent excise tax on new agricultural and manufacturing equipment. Whereas the EPIC Option Consumption Tax would never tax business-to-business transactions, including agricultural and manufacturing equipment, the Governor’s plan does just that. It is always a mistake to tax necessary manufacturing and agricultural equipment.
