First-time homebuyer savings accounts, new sales taxes proposed by Nebraska senators • Nebraska Examiner

LINCOLN — A state lawmaker seeking a universal homestead exemption for Nebraska homeowners is also proposing tax incentives for new first-time homebuyer savings accounts.

State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha introduced Legislative Bill 151 to create the “First-Time Homebuyers Savings Account Act.” It would allow taxpayers to annually offset a certain portion of federal adjusted gross income into the savings account — $4,000 for married taxpayers filing a joint tax return, or $2,000 for others with the new account. 

The maximum values would increase with inflation starting in 2027. Tax-deductible contributions could continue for up to 10 calendar years, or the date of the account holder’s first withdrawal of funds not related to qualified home purchases.

Cavanaugh said the goal is “to make the dream of home ownership a little bit more realistic for more Nebraskans.”

LB 152, also from Cavanaugh, reintroduces a proposal from the Legislature’s summer special session on property taxes. It would offer tax relief targeting owner-occupied properties — a homestead exemption for the first $100,000 of a home’s value — rather than giving relief to “big out-of-state property owners,” such as Ted Turner or Bill Gates.

Cavanaugh estimated it could provide about $2,000 in targeted relief for average homeowners in Douglas County at less cost than similar relief efforts for all owners, including corporations or those living out of state.

Proposed sales tax expansion

Lawmakers also have begun to introduce measures to expand the state sales taxes to more goods or services that currently aren’t taxed, partly to fund new tax relief programs.

Among those are LB 169 and LB 170, from State Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth. State Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams is cosponsoring both measures.

LB 169 would extend the tax to two dozen “luxury” items, such as lobbying or dating services, and that Brandt coined as “low-hanging fruit.” The taxes would begin Oct. 1. 

A timeline of the Nebraska Legislature’s summer property tax debate: April 18 to Aug. 21

The items are similar to those identified by former Omaha State Sens. Lou Ann Linehan and Justin Wayne at the end of the summer special session. 

A majority of lawmakers in summer 2024 refused to eliminate some sales tax exemptions, even as the list of possible targets dwindled from more than 120 to 12 by the end of the summer.

Brandt’s list, estimated to bring in $25-30 million annually, includes:

• Pet grooming services.
• Tattoos and body modification services.
• Nail care services.
• Hair care and removal services (but not hair cuts).
• Skin care services.
• Dry cleaning services.
• Local passenger transportation by chartered road vehicles, such as limousines and similar “luxury” vehicles.
• Sightseeing services by ground vehicles.
• Travel agency services.
• Weight loss services.
• Telefloral delivery services.
• Dating services.
• Golf, dance and tennis lessons.
• Swimming pool cleaning and maintenance services.
• Interior design and decorating services.
• Lobbying services.
• Marketing and telemarketing services.
• Chartered flights.
• Massage services.
• Pinball machines.
• Film rentals.
• Certain purchases by museums, including fine art.
• Historic automobile museum sales, leases, rentals, storage or use.
• Admissions to nationally accredited nonprofit zoos or aquariums.

As drafted, the bill would also add sales taxes to household pet veterinary services and to memberships to or purchases by accredited zoos or aquariums. Brandt said that isn’t his intent and that he would amend his bill with help from the Revenue Committee.

In 2024, lawmakers defined massages as part of health care, and Brandt said he and about four or five lawmakers who helped craft the list could find another exemption to remove.

‘A breath of fresh air’

Asked what’s different now from last summer, Brandt said: 17 new senators.

“It’s always good to get a breath of fresh air in the chamber, and I think it’s good that they’ll come in with an open mind, take a fresh look at this, and the fact that we’re starting out $432 million in the hole,” Brandt said, referring to a projected state budget shortfall by summer 2027.

Brandt’s LB 170 would add sales taxes to soft drinks and candy, defined as:

• Soft drinks — Nonalcoholic beverages that contain natural or artificial sweeteners. The bill would not tax beverages with milk or milk products; soy, rice or similar milk substitutes; or that contain greater than 50% of vegetable or fruit juice by volume.
• Candy — Preparation of sugar, honey or other natural or artificial sweeteners combined with chocolate, fruits, nuts or other ingredients or flavorings in the form of bars, drops or pieces. Such foods that are prepared with flour or that need refrigeration would not be taxed.

Brandt also introduced LB 171, which would pause the state’s multi-year plan to reduce top income and corporate tax rates. Instead of going down to 3.99% by the start of 2027, the top tax rates would freeze at 4.99% for taxable years after Jan. 1, 2026.

“They are forecasting better times ahead, and I certainly hope they’re correct, but on the off chance that that doesn’t happen and they needed to do something, it would be sitting there,” Brandt said of his bill.

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Other new proposals

Those proposals were among 67 bills or constitutional amendments introduced Monday, as introductions continue through Jan. 22.

Other items introduced Monday include:

• LB 131, by State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of Omaha, would open up state educational savings plans for college to include private elementary and secondary schools.
• LB 137, by State Sen. George Dungan of Lincoln, would prohibit homeowners associations from restricting the installation of solar panels or pollinator gardens.
• LB 141, by State Sen. Victor Rountree of Bellevue, would require credible reports of child abuse or neglect of a member of a military family to be reported to the appropriate military authorities and any appropriate military family advocacy program established to address child abuse and neglect in military families.
• LB 143, also by Rountree, would require local K-12 schools to accept children of military families for preliminary enrollment, regardless of whether the child has an individualized family service plan, individualized education plan, requires special accommodations or services under Section 504 of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or receives special education.
• LB 147, by State Sen. Ben Hansen of Blair, would allow school districts to suspend students in pre-kindergarten through second grade. The prohibition started in 2023 led by State Sen. Terrell McKinney of Omaha. He had argued that it was hard for young students to bounce back after being suspended and that suspensions disproportionately impacted students of color.
• LB 155, by State Sen. Brian Hardin of Gering, would allow people to use deadly force to defend their vehicles from carjacking, unless they were the initial aggressor.

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• LB 165, from State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, would allow municipalities or counties to authorize syringe services programs to distribute hypodermic, sterile syringes to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. The bill addresses one of the concerns Gov. Jim Pillen raised when he vetoed Hunt’s measure in 2024: whether minors could access the programs. One lawmaker who sustained Pillen’s veto, after voting for the bill, co-sponsored Hunt’s measure: State Sen. Rick Holdcroft of Bellevue. Hunt fell three votes short of overriding the veto.
• LB 189, by State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, would create baseline standards for paid family and medical leave, beginning Jan. 1, 2028.
• LB 190, also by Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, would require the Legislature’s Performance Audit Committee to create a rotating schedule so that all state agencies are audited every five years, rather than on a case-by-case basis.
• Legislative Resolutions 10CA and 11CA, also by Hardin, would impose consumption or excise taxes on all new goods and services, except groceries (10CA), and eliminate all taxes other than retail consumption and excise taxes (11CA). The effort is the “EPIC Option,” to eliminate property, income and corporate taxes.