LINCOLN- Debate on Gov. Jim Pillen’s controversial property tax relief plan began Wednesday, with advocates saying it will result in a net tax savings and opponents saying it’s a tax shift that will hurt middle- and low-income families. The plan calls for up to a 1-cent increase in state sales taxes, hikes in taxes on cigarettes, vaping products and hemp gummies, and new taxes on soda pop and candy, state lottery tickets and veterinary bills for pets.

That would generate an additional $730 million in revenue, according to Pillen administration estimates, which would be sent to K-12 school districts to reduce local property taxes by an average of 30%, when coupled with other recent tax relief measures. After an initial four hours of debate, it wasn’t clear that the plan could generate the 33 votes to fend off a filibuster and advance LB388 from first-round debate.

Before debate ended Wednesday night, Elkhorn Sen. Lou Ann Linehan, the main sponsor of the governor’s bill, asked for a “pause” in the debate until next week so that some drafting errors in the bill could be corrected. “If you come up with some brilliant plan where we don’t have to raise sales taxes, I’m all in,” Linehan told her colleagues.

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