Gov. Heineman Signs Middle Class Tax Relief for Hard-Working Nebraskans

(Lincoln, Neb.) - Gov. Dave Heineman today signed LB 970 into law, which provides tax relief for hard-working, middle class Nebraskans. The Governor’s plan provides $97 million in tax relief over three years. “My highest priority for this legislative session has been tax relief for Nebraska’s hard-working, middle class taxpayers,” said Gov. Heineman. “While I believe there should have been more tax relief provided to Nebraskans, I view this bill as the beginning of future efforts that will allow Nebraskans to keep more of their hard earned dollars.”
The Governor highlighted the progress made in Nebraska’s tax climate improving from 45th to 30th since 2006 in the Tax Foundation’s state rankings. However, Gov. Heineman noted that there is more work to be done and middle class Nebraskans need tax relief.
LB 970 was introduced by State Senator Abbie Cornett of Bellevue, on behalf of Gov. Heineman. The bill provides individual income tax relief by lowering the rate of the lowest three income tax brackets in 2013. In 2014, tax brackets will be expanded in a way that will include greater amounts of income being taxed at the lower rate.
“I would like to thank Governor Dave Heineman for giving me the opportunity to introduce LB 970,” said Sen. Cornett. “LB 970 is a down payment towards real tax relief for working Nebraskans. It is the first chance in a number of years, to give something back to the citizens of this great state.”
Additionally, Gov. Heineman signed three economic development bills into law, aimed at continuing to improve Nebraska’s competitive edge for job creation.
LB 830 was introduced by State Senator Galen Hadley of Kearney and provides a sales and use tax exemption for biochips, used for the purposes of conducting genotyping or the analysis of gene expression, protein expression, genomic sequencing, or protein profiling of plants, animals, or nonhuman laboratory research model organisms.
LB 872, also introduced by Sen. Hadley, reduces the income tax burden of Nebraska-based business that provides services to customers in other states. Additionally, the bill changes the method for corporate income tax for the sales of services or intangible property, except for sales of a communications company.
“LB 830 and LB 872 are bills that will allow our tax code to be updated to keep pace with the way business is now increasingly being done using technology,” said Sen. Hadley. “The bills will encourage businesses to locate in Nebraska and more importantly stay in Nebraska.”
LB 1080 was introduced by Sen. Cornett and amends the revenue code to provide a personal property tax exemption and a sales and use tax exemption for tangible personal property that is assembled, engineered, processed, fabricated, manufactured into, attached to, or incorporated into other tangible property, both in component form or that of an assembled product, for the subsequent use at a physical location outside this state. These exemptions are only available to a person operating a data center, for which a definition is provided in the bill.
“Thank you Yahoo! for your continued investment in job creation and in Nebraska,” said Sen. Cornett. “LB 1080 is truly about retention and attraction as it relates to data centers in our state. This legislation is not only about Yahoo! but also about the ability for all companies who operate data centers in the state to continue to expand their operations and bring new jobs to communities across Nebraska. I, too, would like to thank representatives of Yahoo! and the local Chambers of Commerce who are with us today. We appreciate their work to advance investment in Nebraska and LB 1080 sends a strong message that Nebraska is ready to compete for data center business.