{"id":39822,"date":"2026-02-05T09:52:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T15:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=39822"},"modified":"2026-02-05T09:52:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T15:52:07","slug":"measure-to-trim-tax-credits-exemptions-considered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=39822","title":{"rendered":"Measure to trim tax credits, exemptions considered"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Revenue Committee heard testimony Feb. 4 on a proposal to eliminate several tax credits and exemptions in an effort to address the state\u2019s budget shortfall.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. R. Brad von Gillern<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Elkhorn Sen. R. Brad von Gillern, who introduced LB1109 at the request of Gov. Jim Pillen, said the changes are intended to increase state revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of these exemptions are underutilized or haven\u2019t yielded significant returns,\u201d he said, \u201cwhile others have served their useful life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill would repeal sales and use tax exemptions related to:
\n\u2022 sales of mineral oil as a dust suppressant;
\n\u2022 purchases by Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln;
\n\u2022 sales of game birds subject to permit and regulation by the state Game and Parks Commission;
\n\u2022 sales of personal property for use in a community-based energy development project;
\n\u2022 sales of biochips used for genotyping and certain other activities; and
\n\u2022 tangible personal property and services acquired by a person operating a data center under certain conditions.<\/p>\n

The measure also would remove waste treatment and disposal facilities from the list of locations eligible for tax incentives under the ImagiNE Nebraska Act and eliminate a sales and use tax exemption on certain purchases of property by nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\n

Von Gillern said those recently enacted provisions were intended to benefit specific projects that have since been completed.<\/p>\n

LB1109 also would modify the research tax credit available under the Nebraska Advantage Research and Development Act. The credit still could be used against a taxpayer\u2019s income tax liability, but it would no longer be refundable.<\/p>\n

Finally, the proposal would sunset a renewable energy tax credit at the end of June.<\/p>\n

The state Department of Revenue estimates that LB1109 would increase state general fund revenue by $15 million in fiscal year 2026-27 and $16 million in FY2027-28.<\/p>\n

State budget administrator Neil Sullivan testified in support of the bill, saying it would broaden Nebraska\u2019s tax base and reduce pressure on property taxes by eliminating \u201cspecial interest exemptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery sales tax exemption added to the books was sold as tax relief,\u201d he said. \u201cBut what it really did was shift [the] tax base onto our homes and property.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testifying in opposition to LB1109 was Adam Feser of the Nebraska Cooperative Council. He said the measure would increase costs on Nebraska\u2019s farmer-owned cooperatives, which use mineral oil as a dust suppressant in grain elevators for safety.<\/p>\n

Joshua Vossler testified in opposition to the bill on behalf of Wyuka Funeral Home and Cemetery. He said eliminating Wyuka\u2019s tax-exempt status would make it more difficult to provide affordable burial options to community members.<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Revenue Committee heard testimony Feb. 4 on a proposal to eliminate several tax credits and exemptions in an effort to address the state\u2019s budget shortfall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36723,"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":[288],"class_list":["post-39822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-revenue","tag-sen-r-brad-von-gillern"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/UpdateBlogPhoto-2.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39822","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=39822"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39826,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39822\/revisions\/39826"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/36723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}