Nebraska Income Tax Credit for Paid Property Taxes Initiative (2020)

Nebraska Income Tax Credit for Paid Property Taxes Initiative
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Taxes
Status Not on the ballot
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin Citizens
List of Nebraska measuresNebraska Amendment 1Nebraska Amendment 2Nebraska Initiative 428Nebraska Initiative 429Nebraska Initiative 430Nebraska Initiative 431Submit

The Nebraska Income Tax Credit for Paid Property Taxes Initiative was not on the ballot in Nebraska as an initiated constitutional amendment on November 3, 2020.

This measure would have required the state of Nebraska to issue an income tax credit to real property owners in the amount of 35 percent of property taxes paid during each taxable year. The measure would apply to the taxable year that begins on January 1, 2021, and each year thereafter.

According to the Nebraska Administrative Code, "Real property means all land, buildings, fixtures other than trade fixtures, improvements, certain mobile homes, cabin trailers and similar property, mineral interests, and all privileges pertaining to real property."

Text of measure

Object statement

The object statement would have been as follows:

“

Real property owners in Nebraska who have paid property taxes will receive a refund of 35% of said property tax in the form of a Nebraska State income tax credit; if the refund is more than income tax owed, then the taxpayer will be issued a check for the balance.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Nebraska Constitution

The measure would have added the following underlined text to the Nebraska Constitution:

For taxable years beginning or deemed to begin on or after January 1, 2021, under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, there shall be allowed to each taxpayer a refundable credit against the income tax imposed by the State of Nebraska in the amount of thirty-five percent of taxes levied on the taxpayer’s real property in this state and paid by the taxpayer during the taxable year.

Full text

The full text of the measure is available here.

Support

TRUE Nebraskans led the campaign in support of the measure.

Supporters

• Nebraska State Senator Steve Erdman (R)
• Nebraska State Senator Tom Brewer (R)
• Nebraska State Senator Steve Halloran (R)
• Nebraska State Senator Dave Murman (R)

Arguments

• Steve Erdman, a Nebraska State Senator, said, "Nebraska has higher property taxes than each of our surrounding states. Our high property taxes are preventing people from moving to our state and they are causing good people to leave our state."

Opposition

Arguments

• Pete Ricketts, governor of Nebraska, said, "The proposal to refund 35 percent of the taxes is actually similar to a proposal I had last year, except I started it small and phased it in, so we could afford it. What they're proposing is starting at 35 percent which would be over $1 billion dollars of our $4 billion dollar state budget and would cause massive disruptions."

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing the initiative process in Nebraska

Coronavirus pandemic
Select a topic from the dropdown below to learn more. Political responses overviewState reopening plansDocumenting America's Path to RecoveryElection changesChanges to vote-by-mail and absentee voting proceduresFederal responsesState responsesState executive ordersStay-at-home ordersMultistate agreementsNon-governmental reopening plansEvictions and foreclosures policiesTravel restrictionsEnacted state legislationState legislative session changesSchool closuresState court closuresInmate releasesLocal government responsesDiagnosed or quarantined politiciansBallot measure changesArguments about government responsesThe 1918 influenza pandemicPandemic Response Accountability CommitteeUnemployment filingsLawsuitsBallotpedia's polling on the coronavirus pandemicSubmit

The state process

In Nebraska, the number of signatures required to qualify an initiated constitutional amendment for the ballot is equal to 10 percent of registered voters as of the deadline for filing signatures. Because of the unique signature requirement based on registered voters, Nebraska is also the only state where petition sponsors cannot know the exact number of signatures required until they are submitted. Nebraska law also features a distribution requirement mandating that petitions contain signatures from 5 percent of the registered voters in each of two-fifths (38) of Nebraska's 93 counties.

Signatures must be submitted at least four months prior to the next general election. Signatures do not roll over and become invalid after the next general election at least four months after the initial initiative application filing. Depending on when the initiative application is filed, petitioners can have up to just under two years to circulate petitions.

The requirements to get an initiated constitutional amendment certified for the 2020 ballot:

• Signatures: 122,274
• Deadline: The deadline to submit signatures was July 2, 2020.

Signatures are submitted to the secretary of state. The secretary of state sends the appropriate signature petitions to each county, where county election officials verify the signatures. Upon receiving the signatures back from county officials, the secretary of state determines whether or not the requirements were met.

Details about this initiative

• Douglas Kagan, Paul von Behren, and Barb Otto filed the Nebraska Income Tax Credit for Paid Property Taxes Initiative on August 1, 2018. The secretary of state approved the initiative for circulation.
• On April 1, 2019, Douglas Kagan requested that his name be removed as a sponsor for the petition
• On April 13, 2020, TRUE Nebraskans announced that it was suspending its signature gathering efforts. TRUE Nebraskans said, "With public gatherings and even personal contact limited, there is no reasonable expectation that we can finish the task, without needless risk to the health and safety of our circulator network and to Nebraskans, in general."

See also

2020 measures

• 2020 ballot measures
• Taxes on the ballot
• 2020 petition deadlines

Nebraska

• Nebraska ballot measures
• Nebraska initiative laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls
• Ballot measure signature costs

External links

• Initiative petition text