Revenue changes to homestead exemption, housing approved

A bill related to homestead exemptions that was amended to include provisions from several tax-related bills received final approval by the Legislature April 24.

Introduced by Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha, LB217 gives a property owner 30 days after a county assessor receives approval from a county board to remove or reduce a homestead exemption from the tax rolls to pay taxes owed without accruing interest.

LB217 also includes the provisions of seven other bills.

LB228, also introduced by Harr, requires the owner of a rent-restricted housing project to file an electronic statement containing income and expense data for the prior year and other information. It also requires the state Department of Revenue to forward those statements to the county assessor of each county in which a rent-restricted housing project is located.

LB233, introduced by Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion, makes several technical changes to current tax law. It updates statute related to raffles and lotteries; clarifies the method of claiming a tax credit for employers that hire former recipients under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program; and allows for the electronic filing of a report with the Property Tax Administrator regarding unused homestead exemption tax credits, among other changes.

LB387, introduced by Sen. Brett Lindstrom of Omaha, makes several changes to programs administered by the state Department of Economic Development. It requires the department to make its best efforts to allocate at least 30 percent of funds from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to each congressional district.

These provisions also remove references to distressed areas in the Angel Investment Tax Credit Act and change the percentage of refundable tax credits available to all qualified small businesses to 40 percent.

LB387 also allows the Department of Revenue’s Business Recruitment Division to withhold information regarding business recruitment, location, relocation and expansion projects from the public until a public announcement is made about the project or until negotiations between the business and the division or government entity regarding the project have been completed.

LB49, introduced by Sen. Paul Schumacher of Columbus, requires the state tax commissioner to submit a report to the Legislature within 60 days of the enactment of an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code. The report will describe the changes and their impact on state revenue and on various classes of taxpayers. The requirement does not apply if the amendment’s impact on state revenue for that year is less than $5 million.

LB238, introduced by Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, requires a county assessor to file a tax levy certification to a governing body or board by mail, electronically or by placing the certification on the county assessor’s website.

LB288, also sponsored by Harr, makes technical changes to law governing tax certificate sales.

Provisions of Harr’s LB251 also were incorporated. These require a parcel of land primarily used for agriculture or horticulture to be assessed without regard to whether the parcel is platted and subdivided into separate lots.

As amended, LB217 also clarifies current law regarding the ownership and transfer of affordable housing tax credits.

The bill passed 47-0.