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Property taxes are big topic in Nebraska

Property taxes being paid on farm and ranch land in Nebraska continue to skyrocket.  Laura Field, director of legislative affairs for Nebraska Cattlemen, says those taxes increased an average of 29 percent statewide over the past year.

Field says her group will resume its push for property tax relief in the 2015 legislative session. That task will be made more interesting with the election of a new governor and as many as 17 new state legislators this fall.

“We’ll have a new governor for the first time in ten years here in Nebraska.  Both candidates who are running for governor have made statements about property tax relief, so I think it’s something that’s on the forefront of their agendas,” Field says, “and we’ll have 17 new senators—at a minimum—and I fully expect that we’ll see some ideas come forward with those folks when they get down to the legislature.”

A move to lower the value of ag land for taxation purposes, from the current rate of 75 percent of market value to 65 percent of market, value failed to gain much traction in the last legislative session.  Field says that plan could resurface in 2015, but she expects some new proposals as well.

“I think we’ll see some discussion around should there be some caps on ag land valuations, how much can they increase every year, should they only be allowed to increase a certain amount,” she says, “and I think that we’ll see some more discussion on money that’s put into the property tax credit cash fund.  There was some additional money added this year and I think that’s a really popular idea that will come back up as well.”

Field made those comments in an interview with Brownfield at a Nebraska Cattlemen “Road Trip” meeting in Wahoo.

AUDIO: Laura Field (4:03 MP3)

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