In less than a month, rural Nebraskans will begin watching a new governor and Legislature choose their answer to a question posed here before:

Will the 108th Legislature be the one to finally “grasp the nettle” (meaning “tackle a difficulty boldly”) of unequal property tax burdens across Nebraska?

Or — as we ourselves have boldly posited — will we again see that Nebraskans and their leaders actually love property taxes, because it’s easier and politically expedient to use them as scapegoats rather than risk finding something better for all Nebraskans?

Western Nebraska’s Unicameral delegation will consist of two term-limited holdovers (Tom Brewer of Gordon and Steve Erdman of Bayard); two brand-new senators (Teresa Ibach of Sumner and Brian Hardin of Gering); and one in between, North Platte’s Mike Jacobson, who served half a “short” session this year before winning election in his own right.

They’ve all heard their constituents — especially farmers and ranchers — keep saying they’re fed up with property taxes that never seem to go down.

The Telegraph last Sunday presented a decade’s worth of property tax experiences for three Lincoln County agricultural operations. They’ll be part of our annual budget coverage going forward, along with the three North Platte homes we’ve featured each year.

Did ag valuations consistently go up each year? Yes, for one in Sandhills ranch country. No, for two farming operations with grassland, dryland and irrigation land.

Did gross tax bills always go up? No.

What about state property tax credits? Those have brought potential net tax bills down — but only once Lincoln started pouring millions into partial income-tax rebates on K-12 and community college taxes.

That’s good news, if you’ve claimed those credits. Many haven’t. (So is it really tax relief?)

But let’s not forget our three North Platte homeowners. Even with the tax credits, one home’s net 2022 tax bill went up and a second went down. (The third got a homestead exemption the past two years. With the state tax credits, its net tax bill was zero.)

In short, taxpayers’ experiences vary. But we think senators have much to think about — if they decide their $12,000-a-year jobs aren’t much to lose if they risk fixing property taxes.

The biggest challenge remains to persuade more metro senators to take that risk, since the system we have favors their end of the state.

Meanwhile, we urge rural senators not to let the perfect defeat the good.

We haven’t dismissed replacing current state taxes with the “consumption tax” that Sen. Erdman and others have advocated.

But how likely is an all-new system to pass when the Legislature can’t find enough courage to make less sweeping changes to help our property owners?

First, it’s long past time to break the back of ag taxable values by again basing them on earning capacity.

Other states around us do it. Voters in 1990 gave permission after courts overturned a 1984 law doing it. An effort to restore it was under way in 2019-20 but stalled. Let’s get it done.

Meanwhile, if we’re going to fund tax relief through tax credits (assuming an ag recession doesn’t dry them up), wouldn’t property owners be sure of getting it if all the money were funneled through the Property Tax Credit Fund’s direct discount on annual tax bills?

And then there’s the Legislature’s long-broken promise to fully fund the state school-aid formula of 1990.

In exchange for per-student “foundation aid,” school districts were promised 20% rebates of the state income taxes their patrons pay. They’ve only gotten about one-tenth for years.

You want lower school taxes? Change that, whether senators fully fund the rebates or restore foundation aid.

But they can’t just cut the equalization aid that metro districts — but also North Platte and Lexington in our region — must have to educate their poorer students and restrain property taxes.

It’ll take doing something different with our tax structure, most likely with our Swiss-cheese, exemption-riddled sales tax system.

We hope Gov.-elect Jim Pillen won’t be as rigid as Gov. Pete Ricketts was when he opposed a 2019-20 plan to fix school aid (involving former Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte) rather than do anything different with sales-tax exemptions.

See why we say Nebraskans must love property taxes?

We’d like to be proved wrong. Our latest watch party starts soon.

This editorial first appeared in the North Platte Telegraph on December 11, 2022. It was distributed by The Associated Press.

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.