The public hearing on the EPIC Option Excise Tax was excellent. A member of the Finance Committee commented afterward that nearly 100 private citizens came to testify in favor of the EPIC Option Excise Tax, while only two paid lobbyists bothered to show up in person to testify against the tax.

The online comments on LB 16 showed a similar result, with 85 supporters of the EPIC option for excise taxes compared to only nine opponents.

I am overwhelmed by the tremendous support the EPIC option for excise taxes received from the public at the hearing. Some concerned citizens drove up to eight hours to testify for just three minutes before members of the Legislature’s Finance Committee. Both through their large numbers and their personal stories, these citizens made a huge impression on committee members. No one could have sat through this hearing without being moved by the stories of taxpayers struggling to pay their property taxes.

One woman who testified in person at the hearing fought back tears as she told her personal story of having to make the very difficult decision to sell the family ranch. The ranch had been lived in by her grandfather and her father had left it to her in 1994. However, in 2011 she could no longer afford the property taxes and had to sell it.

Another woman submitted a testimony online, writing that she and her husband pay more in property taxes on their farmland each year than they originally paid for it in 1989.

A landlord whose property taxes have doubled in the past decade testified online that Nebraska’s property tax system forces him to evict seniors on fixed incomes from their apartments. He wrote, “It breaks my heart when a tenant on a fixed income has to move out because they can no longer afford the rent.”

Without such pertinent testimony, Senators in Lincoln and Omaha would have little idea of ​​the severity of the burden on our property tax system and the predicament it places property owners in. More and more Nebraskans find themselves in the difficult position of having to decide whether or not they can afford to continue living in Nebraska.

Something must be done immediately to stop the bleeding of our overburdened property tax system. On July 23, National Mortgage News released a report on the states where mortgage delinquencies are increasing the fastest. Nebraska is now in second place. The only state where mortgage delinquencies are increasing even faster than Nebraska is Vermont. In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture continues to rank Nebraska as the state with the third highest number of farm and ranch bankruptcies.

Senators in the Capitol in Lincoln have finally understood that real tax reform is needed in Nebraska. It is my sincere hope and desire that the unicameral legislature can pass legislation that will result in meaningful and significant property tax relief.