As reports surfaced that the Pillen administration would seek to raise sales taxes to offset reductions in property taxes, OpenSky Policy Institute noted that a proposed increase in sales taxes would make the Nebraska tax code “even more regressive” for lower-income citizens.
Raising the sales tax rate by 2%, as reported by the Nebraska Examiner, represents a “36-percent increase for all consumers in the state, for the purpose of reducing taxes for just property owners,” said Rebecca Firestone, Executive Director of OpenSky Policy Institute.