Governor Pillen held a press opportunity where he touted his quest to try to appeal to more voters by lowering their property taxes. He gathered all his department heads at one table and brought the media in to talk about how he’s going to attempt to achieve his goal when the Unicameral convenes again next year.

To achieve his goal, he said that he’s going to propose cuts to state services so he can get the tax relief he so desperately craves.

Now I don’t like paying property, or for that matter, any other tax any more than the next guy. But when it comes to property taxes, let’s put things in perspective. I’ve written articles about how Mike Cassling and Dana Bradford are working to get the state to offer more incentives to entice big businesses to bring primary jobs to the state.

The state budget is already facing deficits. The way to fix that isn’t cutting programs and cutting taxes. The answer is improving and diversifying our economy. The answer is expanding the tax base.

But Governor Pillen isn’t interested in doing that. He’s obsessed with property taxes. I guess if I or my family-owned business had over a hundred hog farms in the state, I might be obsessed with lowering property taxes, too.

Some of the biggest landowners in the state don’t even live here. They include Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. People with no connection to the state who bring in few, if any, jobs. Those poor folks need the tax break because they are barely getting by. The governor’s property tax relief will help them keep food on the table. (Where’s the sarcasm emoji when you need it?)

Pillen says he’s going to cut programs to lower property taxes. Programs that will benefit Nebraskans who don’t own acres and acres of land.

I’m about to tell you a dirty little secret. The cost of living in Nebraska is relatively cheap, even with the higher property taxes.

Sure, our property taxes are higher here than in other surrounding states, but people aren’t leaving because of that. When you figure the total cost of living, we kick a lot of the surrounding area’s asses.

If you made $50,000 in Omaha, you’d have to make $65,478.84 to have the same standard of living in Chicago. Housing alone in Chicago is 79% higher than in Omaha. Even with our taxes. You’d need $61,247.72 in Denver, or $57,238.31in Overland Park, Kansas to live the same way as you do here.

Des Moines is cheaper than Omaha. You’d only need 46,269.49 to comparatively live there. But do you really want to live in Des Moines?

And if you want to compare the cost of living in Omaha vs. the cost of living in places like New York, Boston, or San Francisco, forget about it.

I didn’t just pull these figures out of thin air. That’s according to figures from NerdWallet, which points out that housing costs in Denver are 50% higher and in Overland Park, they are 38% more.

So your taxes might be less there, but one way or the other, that’s still money out of your pocket.

When I saw the news reports of Governor Pillen holding that cabinet meeting to talk about the benefit cuts to give him his tax break, it reminded me of the dog-and-pony shows that President Trump has when he gets his cabinet together before the media.

All the loyal Cabinet Secretaries sit there quietly until they are called upon to kiss the president’s behind. While the governor’s department heads didn’t seem to humiliate themselves like that, according to the press accounts I saw, they sat there quietly as Pillen talked about more cuts to the departments they head up.

When you think of the way the governor has alienated the 70% of voters who voted for medical marijuana and the scandal he has created by giving his friend a 2.5 million dollar no-bid contract, it may be a little presumptuous of him to even think he’ll get another term to try to push through his tax plan.

But if he does, he should be more concerned about bringing more high-paying jobs to the state and less concerned about giving himself, Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and the Mormon church a tax break.

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.