Revenue changes to homestead exemption, housing advanced

A bill that would determine when interest accrues after a homestead exemption is rejected was amended March 30 to include provisions from several tax-related bills.

As introduced by Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha, LB217 would give 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.

A Revenue Committee amendment, adopted 37-0, incorporated the provisions of several additional bills.

Provisions of LB228, also introduced by Harr, would require 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 would require 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, would make several technical changes to current tax law. It would update statute related to raffles and lotteries; clarify the method of claiming a tax credit for employers that hire former recipients under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program; and allow 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, would make several changes to programs administered by the state Department of Economic Development. It would require 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 would 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 would allow 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, would require 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 would describe the changes and their impact on state revenue and on various classes of taxpayers. The requirement would not apply if the amendment’s impact on state revenue for that year is less than $5 million.

Finally, LB238, introduced by Sen. Steve Erdman of Bayard, would require 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, would make technical changes to law governing tax certificate sales.

Harr also introduced a floor amendment, adopted 33-0, that would clarify current law regarding the ownership and transfer of affordable housing tax credits.

Lawmakers then voted 39-0 to advance LB217 to select file.