BEATRICE – What used to be a bill to limit tax levy authority for community colleges, is now the catch-all bill for tax cuts…that was being debated Wednesday by Nebraska lawmakers.

Included are income tax reductions, corporate tax cuts, property tax reductions and social security tax cuts. It’s been a tough slog for any of the cuts to advance individually. But an amendment to LB 873 brought the cuts into one package.  A motion to bracket the bill was withdrawn when it was ruled the different parts of the package can be considered separately.

State Senator Tom Briese says the package is about making sure tax cuts impact all Nebraskans.  "This is fiscally responsible. And, I also heard it was shameful to be doing this. Some would suggest that it is shameful to have some of the highest property taxes in the country...and some would suggest it is shameful to have some of the highest marginal income tax rates in our area."

Senator MaKayla Cavanaugh opposed the tax cut package, saying grouping them together puts the state's solvency at risk. She said many of the individual reductions could have sailed through to passage.  "I support property tax relief....I support social security tax relief. I support income tax relief for the working poor. I do not support corporate welfare. I do not support billionaire, millionaire tax cuts. This is the epitomy of socialism...Governor Ricketts."

Senator Julie Slama says the data indicate Nebraska is a high tax state. "Especially when you look at our neighbors...it doesn't matter if you look at income, property, social security or corporate taxes, we are a high tax state. And, the wildest part of that is we lean more on local taxes than just about any other state in the country...so, the facts are clear...that our tax system is completely out of whack."

Senator Mike Jacobsen noted that it's been a year where the state is spending significant amounts of money through cash transfers and the budget, to help people....and has ARPA funding on top of that. "So, to think that we are not going to give taxpayers some of their money back and stop taking less of it in the future...I think, is incredibly irresponsible."

According to Senator Brett Lindstrom, the state's revenue outlook supports a return of tax money to citizens. "That money when people are working, comes into our coffers and we have the ability above the forecast to do a number of things...we can put it in the cash reserve, we can do tax cuts, or we can spend the money. But, I think most Nebraskans and the vast majority of people I've talked to want to see tax reductions...they want to see their money returned to them."

One lawmaker, Steve Erdman, says Nebraska looks at taxation in the wrong way.

"Why should we allow the state to go shopping and then send me the notice of how much I owe? Because the focus is wrong. What we should be doing is....I go shopping, and whatever I buy...whatever I consume...I send the money to the state and then they use that money to do what they need to do. We're going to continue to talk about this tax system we have and it's a problem....because we have three forms of taxes that compete with each other.....sales, income tax and property tax.....and you're never going to solve the problem until you fix it by eliminating those three taxes that compete against each other."

Erdman has been a staunch supporter of a so-called consumption tax.