{"id":37197,"date":"2025-01-30T12:26:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T18:26:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=37197"},"modified":"2025-01-30T13:11:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T19:11:57","slug":"expanded-homestead-exemption-considered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=37197","title":{"rendered":"Expanded homestead exemption considered"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Revenue Committee heard testimony Jan. 29 on two measures that would extend the state\u2019s homestead exemption to partially disabled veterans.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. George Dungan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under LB272, introduced by Lincoln Sen. George Dungan, a veteran who was discharged under honorable conditions, is drawing compensation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs due to a service-connected disability and is not eligible for a total homestead exemption would qualify for a property tax exemption on the value of their home based on their disability percentage.<\/p>\n

Under Dungan\u2019s bill, a veteran would qualify if they are at least 10% but less than 100% disabled. If a veteran has a 60% disability rating, he said, they would qualify for a 60% exemption.<\/p>\n

LB425, sponsored by Sen. Bob Andersen of Omaha, would set a higher threshold of at least 80% but less than 100% disabled.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Bob Andersen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under both measures, an unremarried surviving spouse of such a veteran or a surviving spouse who remarries after turning 57 also would qualify for the exemption, which would take effect Jan. 1, 2026.<\/p>\n

Dungan said LB272 intends to provide property tax relief to a group who would benefit greatly from it. Many Nebraska veterans have a disability rating of less than 100%, he said, but the rating does not necessarily reflect their actual disability.<\/p>\n

\u201cA veteran could have a disability rating of 80% with injuries that still significantly limit their ability to work,\u201d Dungan said.<\/p>\n

Andersen said his proposal would recognize the sacrifices made by service members and encourage them to stay in Nebraska when they retire.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Revenue estimates that LB272 would reduce state general fund revenue by $63 million in fiscal year 2026-27, $67 million in FY2027-28 and $70 million in FY2028-29. The department estimates that LB425 would reduce state general fund revenue by $19 million in FY2026-27, $21 million in FY2027-28 and $22 million in FY2028-29.<\/p>\n

Both lawmakers said the significant cost of expanding the homestead exemption will make it challenging to pass either proposal this year, when the state potentially is facing a significant revenue shortfall.<\/p>\n

Several representatives of veterans groups testified in support of both measures. Kenneth Yount of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Department of Nebraska, said the bills would demonstrate support for disabled veterans and their families.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one small measure that we should be doing to benefit our veterans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lance Molina, a disabled U.S. Air Force veteran, testified in support of both measures, saying that only disabled veterans with a 100% disability rating qualify for a homestead exemption under current law. He said 20 states, including Iowa, Kansas and Wyoming, all provide an exemption for veterans with a partial disability rating.<\/p>\n

No one testified in opposition to the bills and the committee took no immediate action on them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Revenue Committee heard testimony Jan. 29 on two measures that would extend the state\u2019s homestead exemption to partially disabled veterans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[278],"class_list":["post-37197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-revenue","tag-sen-george-dungan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/UpdateBlogPhoto-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37197"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37203,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37197\/revisions\/37203"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}