In Nebraska special session on taxes, some ideas to raise millions in revenue get little attention

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Nebraska lawmakers began debate Tuesday on a special session bill to ease soaring property taxes, largely through mid-year budget cuts, caps on spending and shifts to sales and special taxes. But likely to be left on the cutting room floor are several bills designed to bring in millions of dollars a year in new revenue.

Among the new revenue measures are proposals to legalize marijuana and expand online gambling. Another would free up an estimated $25 million a year by allowing early parole for people who are incarcerated and meet certain criteria, as well as encouraging judges to offer alternatives to jail for some offenders — moves that would ease prison overcrowding and lower the state’s cost of feeding and caring for people in prison.

Republican Gov. Jim Pillen called the summer special session after the Legislature failed to pass his proposed plan to cut property taxes by an average of 40% during the regular session earlier this year.

Soaring housing and land prices in recent years have led to ballooning property tax bills for homeowners and farmers alike. Nearly all lawmakers in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature agree that ever-increasing property tax bills are forcing some people, including young and older people on fixed incomes, out of homeownership.

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