Nebraska

Income tax cuts will be protected during Nebraska property tax relief discussions, governor says • Nebraska Examiner

Published

1 year ago

June 29, 2024

Income tax cuts will be protected during Nebraska property tax relief discussions, governor says • Nebraska Examiner

COLUMBUS, Nebraska — The funding route for Gov. Jim Pillen’s property tax reforms ideas will likely continue to focus on sales and “sin” taxes, and he says that “income tax won’t be touched.”

At various town halls around the state, Pillen has asserted that his solution to reducing property taxes lies in a broad sales tax base, which critics have said could raise taxes on poorer Nebraskans. Unlike in the spring, the governor has focused more recently on eliminating certain sales tax exemptions and increasing sin taxes. But he is no longer talking about raising the sales tax rate from 5.5 cents per dollar.

“We have to be competitive [with] income tax, and then we have to get competitive property tax,” Pillen told reporters Wednesday.

‘Keep that massive win’

Last year, lawmakers approved a long-sought reduction in the state’s income tax rates that will lower the top rates to 3.99% by 2027.

Pillen is now pushing ahead with his stated goal that by the end of 2024 — his second year as governor — the state will have eliminated or shifted a total of 40% of the state’s tax burden away from property taxes. That’s about $2 billion, with about half still to go to meet Pillen’s goal.

In an in-house podcast this week, Jim Vokal, CEO of the Omaha-based think tank Platte Institute, joined senior policy adviser Michael Lucci for the Platte Institute in calling to guard the income tax changes — which Lucci called “the best tax reform of any state in 2023.”

The Platte Institute duo said the state should follow through with that plan unless “some extreme event” comes up that can’t be foreseen.

“Keep that massive win,” Lucci said. “Lock that down and then let’s all work together going forward to figure out what to do on the property tax.”

Future local, state spending

The podcast came in conjunction with the Platte Institute releasing its own property tax reform report, which offers some recommendations that echo those of Pillen.

One calls for hard caps on local spending increases, which Vokal told the Nebraska Examiner will “stop the bleeding” associated with annual property valuation increases.

Jim Vokal, CEO of the Platte Institute (Courtesy of the Platte Institute)

Valuations rose $32 billion in 2023, the largest single-year increase in state history, while nearly $300 million more in property taxes were collected across the state. In most cases, when valuations go up, more taxes are collected unless local tax rates go down.

Lucci said that elected officials should have to vote any time property tax rates could go up by $1 or more and that they should ask for a vote of the people for larger tax increases over a “hard cap,” such as an increase higher than the rate of inflation.

“That is the ultimate form of local control,” Lucci said on the podcast. “Soft cap for the first dollar raise, hard cap for dollars raised on whatever threshold folks think is reasonable.”

‘Full range of arrows in the quiver’

But Pillen’s desire to look only at sales taxes for his solution to an identified crisis could make his efforts more difficult, according to Rebecca Firestone, executive director of the OpenSky Policy Institute.

She said the reduced revenues resulting from the income tax cuts would be a “major complication” for a governor who wants to solve an identified crisis but not “look at the full range of arrows in the quiver of state tax policy.”

Firestone said the most recent estimates she’s seen from the phased down income tax rates will lead to about $1 billion in reduced state revenue in 2027.

If paused, it could mean about $600 million for Pillen to work with for his ideas, which include the state taking over K-12 school funding.

“They made a lot of spending commitments in 2023,” Firestone said of lawmakers, pointing to a new state prison, a $1 billion Education Future Fund and the Perkins County Canal. “If some of those spending commitments were put back on the table, it could potentially free up revenues.”

Firestone said “sin” taxes, such as those on cigarettes, vaping products and alcohol, have shown public health successes when taxes are increased. However, they aren’t the best for general sources of revenue that could be needed for Pillen’s ideas.

Questions around school funding

Many future ramifications need to be considered for Pillen’s “bold plan” for the state to take over the property tax portion of K-12 funding, Vokal said. Among those questions is how to balance the loss of local control and engagement for the state’s 244 school districts.

“I’m not saying that we can’t get there or we shouldn’t go that direction or necessarily support components of it, but you got to figure out how you’re going to allocate the funding [and] if there’s going to be spending oversight,” PIllen said.

Vokal and Lucci joined Pillen in calling for a more level sales tax system between goods and services, but Vokal cautioned that business or agricultural inputs should be off the table.

He said Pillen’s suggestion to remove exemptions on certain inputs and tax them at a lower rate per purchase, such as at 2 cents per dollar, still complicates the policy.

“If you’re going to fund education, broadening the base is fine, and it’s prudent, but you’ve got to have a consistent tax code,” Vokal said.

Firestone said school funding needs to include conversations about student achievement, too.

A different spending future

Rebecca Firestone, executive director of OpenSky Policy Institute. (Courtesy of OpenSky)

Firestone added it’s hard to analyze Pillen’s newest ideas without any formal proposals or ideas, “although we are at the ready and tracking this very closely,” but she said the latest tax measure that did not pass in the spring has some clues.

“We’re not seeing any proposals for revenue raisers that are substantially different in their nature at this point,” Firestone said, adding it’s hard to determine who would ultimately benefit.

Pillen told reporters Wednesday that taxpayers likely wouldn’t see impacts of his ideas until the start of 2025, as many budgets for the next fiscal year are already in progress.

Still, Vokal said local political subdivisions need to plan ahead.

“They’ve got to understand that we are looking to a different future,” Vokal said. “And that future is reining in spending, and it sounds like, potentially, the state taking over education and controlling that spending.”

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Nebraska

York lottery player wins $3,125 in Nebraska Pick 4 drawing

Published

10 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

York lottery player wins ,125 in Nebraska Pick 4 drawing

LINCOLN, Neb. (KSNB) – One lucky player who bought a Nebraska Pick 4 ticket for the Wednesday, Dec. 10, drawing is holding a ticket worth $3,125.

The ticket was sold at Pump & Pantry No. 16 at 109 Lincoln Avenue in York. The winning numbers from Wednesday’s Nebraska Pick 4 drawing were 02, 00, 01, 05.

Winning Nebraska Lottery tickets expire 180 days after the drawing. Tickets with total prize amounts of $501 to $19,999 must be claimed by mail or at a regional lottery claim center. Additional information about claiming prizes can be found at nelottery.com or by calling 800-587-5200.

Nebraska Pick 4 is a daily lotto game from the Nebraska Lottery. Players select four numbers, each from a separate set of digits from 0 through 9, for a chance to win up to $6,000. Players choose one of six bet types to set their play style and potential prizes. The odds of winning the $3,125 prize in Nebraska Pick 4 are 1 in 10,000.

Click here to subscribe to our KSNB Local4 daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.

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Nebraska

Emmett Johnson leaves Nebraska with sterling legacy, All-America status

Published

22 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Emmett Johnson leaves Nebraska with sterling legacy, All-America status

LINCOLN, Neb. — One month ago, on the heels of a breakthrough performance by Emmett Johnson against UCLA, Nebraska launched a Heisman Trophy push for the junior running back.

Johnson enjoyed the limelight. Fans flocked to see him during an appearance in downtown Lincoln and at the high school championship games inside Memorial Stadium. He traveled home to Minneapolis during the Huskers’ bye week and visited his high school, Academy of Holy Angels. He had stopped in previously, but this trip was different.

“It was like a celebrity came to the school,” Holy Angels coach Jim Gunderson said.

In the final two games of the regular season with Nebraska, Johnson rushed for 320 yards, but the Huskers lost them in ugly fashion against Penn State and Iowa to cap a 7-5 regular season. As fast as the Heisman campaign began, it was over — but worthwhile, nonetheless.

Johnson ran this season in part so that running backs at Nebraska who follow him can fly. He leaves Nebraska with a sterling legacy.

On Wednesday, Johnson became the first Nebraska player to receive first-team All-America mentions since linebacker Lavonte David in 2011 — and the fourth running back in the past 70 years, matching Mike Rozier (1982 and ’83), Jarvis Redwine (1980) and Jeff Kinney (1971). His final year ranks among the top five in school history by a running back. Stack it alongside Rozier’s 1983 Heisman season, Lawrence Phillips in 1994, Ahman Green in 1997 and Ameer Abdullah in 2013.

Nebraska coach Matt Rhule and his staff aim to use Johnson’s success to help bring backs to Lincoln who can finish what he started.

“It’s very much not in vogue anymore not to wait your turn,” Rhule said. “Sometimes, it’s like, ‘I’ll just go here and do this, just go there.’ But guys like Emmett had chances. And they stayed. And he deserves everything that he’s getting.”

Johnson was named the Big Ten running back of the year, a first at Nebraska. Last Friday, he declared for the 2026 NFL Draft, foregoing his final season of eligibility and the Dec. 31 Las Vegas Bowl.

High praise for the B1G’s top back@Emmett21Johnson pic.twitter.com/g7EhpUE2EP
— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFootball) December 11, 2025

What separated Johnson this year?

• His 1,130 yards in Big Ten play were the most by a Power 4 back in conference play. He stands alone with 1995 Heisman winner Eddie George as the only Big Ten players to total 1,100 rushing yards and 300 receiving yards in one season of league play.

• Johnson led the nation by accounting for 40.8 percent of his team’s total yards.

• He was the fourth FBS player since 2017 to average 120 yards rushing and 30 yards receiving.

• His 1,821 yards from scrimmage and 1,451 rushing ranked second and third, respectively, in the FBS.

In form true to his roots, Johnson proved wrong skeptics who believed he could not handle 20 carries per game in Big Ten play.

Does everyone realize how freaking good Emmett Johnson is for @HuskerFootball ? Dude is a straight balla. Quick, decisive, tough, great as a receiver. One of the most underrated RB’s in the Country!
— David Pollack (@davidpollack47) November 28, 2025

“He has always had that chip to prove people wrong and be great,” Gunderson said. “This is how he envisioned it going, and he wasn’t going to be denied.”

Four years ago, on a Sunday in mid-December, less than a week before the signing period opened, Johnson accepted a Nebraska scholarship offer. Ron Brown extended it.

A month earlier, Scott Frost, the Nebraska coach from 2018 to 2022, fired four offensive assistants. Brown, with 24 years of experience as a Nebraska assistant under three head coaches, was elevated late in that season from offensive analyst to running backs coach. He reviewed tape of Johnson, who scored 42 touchdowns and rushed for 2,500 yards at Holy Angels in 2021.

And Brown wondered why no big school had snatched up Johnson.

“I was perplexed,” Brown said. “Because when I saw Emmett play, I thought, ‘This guy is special.’”

Brown had recruited Abdullah from high school in Alabama to Nebraska in 2011. And Brown coached Abdullah in his back-to-back 1,600-yard seasons as a junior and senior before an NFL career that continues this year in its 11th season. In Johnson, Brown saw some of Abdullah’s vision, change of direction, endurance and ability to recover.

Brown quizzed Gunderson, the Holy Angels coach, about Johnson.

“I probably threw 100 questions at him,” Brown said, “looking for something that might be a little bit off, something that I had missed.”

Nothing.

“Coach Brown could just see the intangibles,” Gunderson said, “the stuff that isn’t measured. He saw the potential and the kind of kid who was going to work and who believed in himself.”

Johnson started six games as a redshirt freshman in 2023. He started five in 2024 and found his rhythm in the Nebraska offense when Dana Holgorsen arrived as coordinator last season. In December 2024, Johnson considered entering the transfer portal.

Holgorsen’s commitment helped get him to stay.

“ I think he just wanted to know that somebody had a plan for him,” Gunderson said.

The plan was never to leave Nebraska early. Johnson simply wanted the chance to receive a heavy workload.

He got 32 offensive touches against Cincinnati in the 2025 opener, 24 against Michigan, 23 against Maryland and 29 against Northwestern. In November, after quarterback Dylan Raiola was injured, Johnson stacked three games with 31 opportunities apiece and a 27-touch effort against Penn State.

“This dude really did what he said he was going to do,” Nebraska tight end Luke Lindenmeyer said.

His reliability never came into question.

“I’m so proud of Emmett, man,” senior cornerback Ceyair Wright said. “I think his success is a product of who he is as a person, how he treats people and the work that he puts in.”

Emmett Johnson shouldered a heavy load late in the season, garnering 27-plus touches in each of his final five games for Nebraska. (Harry How / Getty Images)

His humility and care for others rate as Johnson’s most admirable trait. Johnson said he wanted to share credit with his teammates for the accomplishments of this season. He rushed for 177 yards in the first half against Iowa and 217 for the game. But he stressed in the aftermath that he felt badly for older teammates who played their final games in Lincoln on Black Friday.

Turns out, he was among them. Johnson takes pride, he said, in building a new reputation for Nebraska running backs — more than a decade after Abdullah departed, three decades after Green and 42 years after Rozier’s Heisman.

“It matters a lot,” Johnson said, “because Nebraska is a special place. I want to be able to have recruits look at this place and know it’s special. It is special. I’m blessed to be the one doing that and helping. It’s bigger than just football.

“There are a lot of great humans here. That’s what I want to help push.”

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Nebraska

Nebraska lands commitment from DL Jayden Travers adding to early Top 5 recruiting class

Published

1 day ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Nebraska lands commitment from DL Jayden Travers adding to early Top 5 recruiting class

Baltimore (Md.) St. Frances Academy 2027 defensive lineman Jayden Travers announced his commitment to Nebraska on Wednesday evening during the broadcast of the Overtime National Championship game.

The Panthers are playing Draper (Utah) Corner Canyon.

The 6-foot-4, 260-pound Travers becomes commit No. 7 for Matt Rhule and the Huskers in the 2027 class, adding to a haul the Rivals Industry already ranked No. 5 nationally early in the cycle.

Nebraska offered Travers in May and he got a chance to visit Lincoln during the fall. He spoke about his decision prior to kickoff with Rivals.

“The culture there is amazing for football,” Travers said. “The coaching. They really care about your well-being. I like the defensive front they run. It’s somewhere I can play and develop at.”

The Rivals Industry tabs Travers as the nation’s No. 56 defensive lineman.

“He is from an extremely tough neighborhood in Baltimore and he has worked his butt of to be in this position for change. very dedicated to the sport and natural leader,” St. Frances head coach Messay Hailemariam said.

Hailemariam likes the decision for Travers as well.

“He felt great about the coaches and his chance at being developed for Sundays,” Hailemariam said before talking about what stands out about about him as a player. “Extremely strong and can use his hands extremely well.”

Other offers for Travers included Michigan, Miami, Maryland, Pittsburgh, Texas A&M, South Carolina and Syracuse.

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