LINCOLN — The State Legislature on Thursday adjourned its 2021 session that state leaders labeled "historic" due to the increased tax relief provided.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said that the $1.8 billion in property tax credits and other tax cuts provided by lawmakers over the next two years were "the most, the greatest, the biggest in a quarter century and probably in the history of Nebraska."

The Legislature passed a bill that intends to phase out state income taxes on Social Security checks over 10 years, and enacted a law that will give military retirees a 100% exemption on their federal pensions.

In addition, taxpayers will see an increase in state credits offered to offset high property taxes, and will not have to pay sales taxes on residential water bills. Additional tax cuts were offered on inputs for ethanol plants and machinery used by farmers to cool livestock barns and haul combine heads.

Also passed in 2021 was a measure allocating $40 million over two years in state funds to expand broadband internet in rural areas, and a law to continue a pandemic-inspired policy that allows bars and restaurants to sell take-out cocktails.

Ricketts urged senators to keep working on one of his top priorities that failed to pass in 2021 — a bill limiting increases in property tax spending by schools and other local governments to 3% a year or less. The governor spoke a day after the Legislature overrode all three vetoes that he issued this session on unrelated bills.

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