Governor Jim Pillen visited Alliance last Thursday, hosting a town hall meeting at West Side Event Center, presenting the various efforts being made to address the property tax issue in the state of Nebraska, and taking questions from those gathered on what they can do to tackle the problem.
Pillen emphasized that the problem is an urgent one, leading to people across generations to choose other states over Nebraska to call home.
“I think there is one thing we can all agree on: we have a problem,” said Pillen. “We have a problem that has to get fixed now. It can’t wait. I’ve had the privilege now to be your governor now for 18 months. In the first year, the first 365 days, property taxes that we’ve all paid have gone up $300 million in the first 365 days that I’ve been governor. If we don’t get something done, they’ll soon be going up a million dollars a day.”
To address the issue, Pillen has called the Legislature into a special session beginning on July 25, and to remain in session until the property tax issue is solved.
“Since 1985, it took 18 years to have a billion dollars more of property tax,” Pillen said. “Then, it only took eight years to get a billion. Then it only took another six years to get to the next billion, and it only took from ‘17 to ‘22 to get to the fifth billion. How many years do you think it’s going to take to get to the next billion? It’s going to be three years. So our property taxes have shot up like a rocket ship, and we just cannot afford it any longer.
“My view is really simple,” said Pillen. “I’m governor of everyone in Nebraska. I think it’s one thing almost every economist would agree on is that if you want to stifle your economy, if you want to keep people from moving to your state, you have the highest property tax. We rank number seven. We’re the seventh highest in the United States. Obviously, not a top 10 we want to be in.”
It is difficult to track the number of people who look into relocating to Nebraska and choose to go elsewhere because of the high property taxes, Pillen explained. He explained one issue that greatly bothers him is seeing retirees moving out of the state.
“I don’t know how many people in Alliance have made a great living, reach retirement age and then they leave the state,” Pillen said. “The hardcore problem is that property taxes have gone so high that we have families that have worked hard, made an honest living, raised their kids, educated their children here, and now they’re on a fixed income and they can’t afford the house they paid for. We have to solve it, and we can’t wait.”
The Alliance Times-Herald will feature more from the Governor’s visit in its next edition.
