State Legislature

Nebraska Farm Bureau supports property tax bills

The Nebraska Legislature’s Revenue Committee heard testimony Thursday on bills that would lower the taxable valuation of ag land from 75 to 65 percent.

Steve Nelson, president of Nebraska Farm Bureau, testified in favor of the bills.

“We talked about how Nebraska values property at a much higher percentage than really all of our surrounding states—and certainly higher than a lot of the states that produce similar commodities to us,” Nelson says. “So that puts our farmers and ranchers at a competitive disadvantage from that perspective.”

But Nelson says lowering the taxable valuation is only one piece of a bigger picture.

“We really believe that until we address how we fund schools in the state of Nebraska, we’re really not going to solve the property tax problem,” he says.

We spoke with Nelson at the Nebraska Farm Bureau’s Ag Edge Conference in Lincoln.

AUDIO: Steve Nelson