LINCOLN- On Thursday, during his annual State of the State Address, Gov. Jim Pillen pitched to the Legislature his proposal for "transformative" property tax relief, calling for broader sales tax, a "hard cap" on local spending, and the elimination of unfair tax breaks. Pillen also used his speech to tout the accomplishments of the Legislature and his administration, including the passage of a billion-dollar trust fund for K-12 education and the passage of an income tax cut that will eventually reduce the state's highest rate to 3.99%.

Pillen also called on the Legislature to increase its efforts to attract more workers to the state. The Governor described the state of property taxes in Nebraska as a "crisis," which Pillen maintained was pricing seniors out of their homes and "hurting Nebraska farmers, ranchers, homeowners, and business for most of our lifetimes."

Gov. Pillen did not, as many expected, express interest in raising the state sales tax by 2-cents in an attempt to decrease property taxes, perhaps because the proposal was panned by conservative and progressive groups alike. Responding to this criticism, Pillen said at a Wednesday briefing that, "If someone wants to call me a tax raiser, they're smoking something funny." Pillen did, however, say that he supported a $2-a-pack increase in cigarette taxes.

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