Hastings Tribune: Study: Loss of inheritance tax would be detrimental to county
Jocelyan McMurtry, Dec. 1, 2012
Adams County is one of 26 counties in the state that would suffer the most hardship if the Nebraska Legislature does away with the inheritance tax, according to a recent study.
“The loss of inheritance tax revenue would leave most counties with an impossible choice: slash services, deplete reserves, or raise property taxes,” said Renee Fry, executive director of the OpenSky Policy Institute, which conducted the study.
The study focused on county budgets and how they would be impacted by the loss of inheritance tax revenues. Many counties use the inheritance tax to offset the need to increase property taxes as costs to operate counties continues to rise.
That is the case in Adams County where the county supervisors use about $1 million in revenue from the inheritance tax fund to help balance the county’s budget each year.
While some people may assume that means county spending is going up, Fry said OpenSky determined in most situations, that was not the case.