Gov. Pete Ricketts answers a question with Speaker Galen Hadley to his right.
You just might get a yellow postcard in the mail from Gov. Pete Ricketts and Speaker of the Legislature Galen Hadley.
It will tell you how much of a property tax break you received.
Ricketts pushed for a big increase in the money devoted to the Property Tax Credit Relief Fund this past legislative session. The Unicameral agreed and boosted the fund to approximately $408 million in the two-year state budget.
Ricketts, though, says many Nebraskans he has talked with are unaware they received a tax break.
“And they couldn’t tell us how much they’d actually been getting, as far as credits, from the state,” Ricketts tells reporters during a news conference in his Capitol office. “And with property taxes being the number one issue people talk to me about, I thought it was important that we figure out a way to do a better job of communicating to Nebraskans the work that the governor’s office and the legislature had already done for them.”
Speaker Hadley addresses reporters. Gov. Ricketts stands by a replica of the postcards.
The Nebraska Department of Revenue will be sending out 700,000 tax relief notices at a cost of $274,000.
Legislative Speaker Galen Hadley of Kearney says it is important tax payers understand the breaks they have received.
“I think one of the things that the governor and the legislature want to make sure is that we tell the people of Nebraska that we hear them. We hear their concerns about property taxes,” Hadley says. “And, we’ve done something about it. I think the Property Tax Credit Fund is really a very good idea, because it gives everybody back some money and it’s proportional, meaning that the more you pay in for property taxes, the more of the credit you get back.”
And Hadley says the legislature isn’t done.
“I look forward to next session, seeing what we can do to get more property tax relief to all business owners, residential owners, and ag owners.”