Slama: Pillen's Prop. Tax Plans Wrong for NE

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Scott Vordiez. The governor's ideas forforty percent property tax relief were kind of
wrapped up in, among others,a bill called LB three to eighty eight,
and there were a lot of peopleopposed to it in the unicameral,
certainly anyone who's not automatically a pilland supporter. The more liberal members of

(00:22):
the legislature opposed it. But oneof those who led a final round filibuster
in the waning hours of well potentiallythe waning hours of the session, is
a conservative state senator. She joinsus now. State Senator Julie Slama of
the beautiful metropolis of Dunbar, Nebraskajoins us here on news radio eleven ten

(00:45):
KFAB. Good morning, Senator,Good morning Scott. Here is our governor
talking with Gary and Jim on kfab'sMorning News on Friday morning. It is
unacceptable and we have to broaden ourmind in all these goober politics have to
go aside, and we have todo it's right for Nebraska. Are you
a goober? You know? Iwouldn't ask certain members of my family that,

(01:11):
but I would argue objectively no,and i'd also argue I get that
the governor has upset that he justtook his biggest loss of his early governorship.
But the fact of the matter ofthis LB three eighty eight was the
second largest tax increase in Nebraska statehistory, and it didn't even have twenty

(01:34):
five votes on the final round.It wasn't just Democrats opposing this. It
ended up towards the end of thefinal round being fiscal conservatives like me,
John Lowe, Steve Erdman, andBrian Harden who actually read the bill and
understood what it does and realized you'rerobbing Peter and Paul to subsidized the wealthiest

(01:55):
landowners in the state, like TedTurner and Bill Gates. Well, Tuner
and Bill Gates are not the onlylandowners, and there are a lot of
people like me, like you,homeowners that say, look, I wouldn't
mind a forty percent reduction as fortypercent of whatever the state slash schools would
take out of it, but it'sa significant property tax relief. And the

(02:20):
governor said, look, it's aone cent sales tax to fund this,
as well as eliminating some of thethings that had previously not been subject to
sales tax. And there were alot of people, a lot of ag
producers not named Ted Turner, whowere in big favor of this. Why
did the legislature decide that this wasnot the right way to go. The

(02:42):
legislature decided this wasn't the right wayto go because we actually read the bill
and even though a forty percent talkingpoint sounds nice, this actually for the
overwhelming majority of Nebraska property tax players, which is why I brought up Ted
Turner and Bill Gates. The overwhelmingmajority of Nebraska property tax payers, including

(03:02):
most of our AGG producers, wouldn'thave seen any property tax reduction at all.
By the end of it. LBthree eighty eight was doing what we
called front loading the LB eleven hseven income tax credit, which paid you
back money for paying your property taxes. Now the claim was and by the

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end of it, the only peoplewho would get relief under that bill by
front loading those credits are those whoaren't already claiming that income tax credit.
So if you're filing on turbo tax, there's just the box that you hit
when you're filing your income taxes sayingyes, I own a house, you
thrown your property tax payment information andyou get that property that uh income tax

(03:46):
credit based on your property taxes paid. Now, the argument was not enough
people in Nebraska are claiming it.Well, that's fantastic. We don't need
to shovel that money to schools whoaren't guaranteed, who don't have spending tap
with your tax credit money. Whatwe need to do is we need to
raise awareness that people can be takingthese tax credits instead of raising people's tax

(04:09):
credits to throw it at local subdivisionswho have no real spending tap. People
in Nebraska are confused. They electconservative members to the unicamer and to the
governor's office, and they expect that, based on everyone's campaign promises, everyone
would work together and find a wayto reduce the property tax burden in the

(04:30):
state. The governor says, thisis halftime. He's calling a special session
and we'll keep you in there untilChristmas, which I'm sure is music to
your ears since you're leaving the unicamera. We'll talk about that in a second.
But what indica, I'm not gettingany indication here and anyone's comments that
anyone's willing to work together and findthe right way forward. What are you

(04:54):
going to do in a special sessionif we continue to have this standoff here
Abraska has a spending problem, nota matter of who's not paying enough taxes.
You can't tax your way out ofthis problem. Nebraskans already have the
sixth highest taxes per capita in thecountry. As a fiscal conservative, I

(05:14):
want to see spending limits, cutsto spending, and I'm not going to
vote for a bill that raises taxesto try to cut taxes. That's just
not how that works. It's nota matter of we don't have enough revenue.
Our taxes are already way too high, and our government spending is out
of control. So as we're goinginto a special session, the governor is

(05:36):
going to have to compromise and bringin some actual spending cuts rather than simply
wanting to raise taxes to try toget a tagline that just isn't true at
the end of the day. SoI'm game to work through Christmas if it
means that we're cutting spending and beingresponsible about how we're providing real relief that

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aren't just talking points for a campaignmailer. Most of the spending in the
state seems to be pretty well tiedup. How do we reduce enough spending
to lead to a noticeable property taxcut. You do it in three different
ways, Scott. You limit valuationincreases on property. We see both with
ag land and houses or valuations inthe state are out of control. Secondly,

(06:21):
you put cuts on obsolete, unfundedmandates that the state has given to
local entities. The town administration themselvesestimate that about twenty percent of local government
expenditures are spent fulfilling the obligations ofobsolete government mandates. Let's cut those mandates,

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cut the cost to our local entitiesof doing business. And also,
third, ensure that any money thestate provides for tax relief has a one
to one requirement of actually going backto the taxpayers. One of my biggest
problems with LB three eighty eight isthere were no requirements that the money the
almost one billion dollars that we weregoing to spend on tax release that a

(07:05):
penny that would actually go to thatcause. We have to require if the
state is providing money to cover coststhat the taxpayers are seeing those on a
one for one basis. There wasa tax cut in last year's legislative session.
You were in favor of that,yes, yes, the more liberal
members of the unicameral were not,and Their argument was, is that it

(07:28):
was going towards the rich too much. Now, when you come out and
say, well a lot of thisgoes to Bill Gates and Ted Turner,
is this not the same thing thatmore liberal politicians say, Because if you're
paying taxes and you're given a samerate tax cut, whether it's taxes or
property taxes, the rich and thelarger property tax owners are going to get

(07:49):
more even though it's the same rate. Why specify Ted Turner and Bill Gates
because those are the types of peoplethat aren't actually claiming those tax credits.
When you look at the money that'snot being collected, it's those really large
landowners that don't actually live in Nebraskathat haven't thought to have their accountants claim

(08:13):
this credit. In addition, thistax package would have increased taxes on things
like pop candy, cigarettes, andthe governor argued, Okay, that'll get
poor people to and I'm quoting here, this will get poor people to stop
paying to buy these because they'll becomemore expensive and they'll make healthier choices.

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Well, the problem is is thatif they don't buy them, you don't
have a steady form of cash revenue, so you can't argue on one hand
that we're going to keep the poorpeople from buying pop, candy, cigarettes,
whatever, and then say, well, the poor people are going to
still keep buying that, and that'show we're going to get a revenue package
together to pretend that we're going togive people property tax relief. In addition,

(09:00):
three eighty eight's main sources new revenuewas a digital advertising tax that specifically
would impact the kfab owner company iHeartMediaand other companies and our small businesses.
And the only other state to doa digital ad tax like what was in
LB three eighty eight is Maryland,who immediately faced a couple dozen lawsuits and

(09:22):
is now stuck paying back every pennythat they collected in taxes as a results
of that with interest, So it'sactually costing their taxpayers more money to enforce.
I am all for property tax relief, and I haven't voted against the
real Property Tax Relief Bill during mytime in the legislature, but LB three
eighty eight a net. Yeah,Maryland is dealing with that lawsuit in the

(09:46):
wake of the same kind of thinghere from mostly Facebook and Google. To
be fair, I think all ofiHeartMedia's advertisers here on KFAB. Would gladly
pay double to be on this radiostation because people like you are on here.
We're talking for a couple more minuteswith State Senator Julie Slama on news
radio eleven ten KFAB. A coupleof things you just mentioned there. Number

(10:07):
one, completely agree with you.As we raise a tax on something and
think that people are going to continueto pay to use it, and then
we're funding things based on that taxthat we believe people are going to stop
using. Look, I love mystate. I'll continue. I'll smoke vanilla
coke kind of a hollowed out butterfingersbar if it means property tax relief from

(10:31):
my neighbors. But your point isvalid that a lot of people will just
give it up or buy it someplaceelse and we won't get that relief.
As far as the valuation increase,cap completely agree with you, and I
talked about it with Governor Pillen andhe brought up that it's a super you
know, Nebraska thing to say,I don't want my property taxes to increase

(10:52):
until the day before I'm going tosell my property. We obviously want our
property tax valuation to go up.We don't want to pay the taxes on
it. So that's a tough oneto balance here. So you guys are
getting back together in a special session, what groundwork can be done between now
and when that session would be soyou're not there until Christmas. I would

(11:16):
support the governor's administration actually reaching outto conservative Republicans who want to see spending
cuts and having honest conversations with themabout how we can make that happen.
Because unless there's some real spending cutsmade to address the tax issue, I'm
not going to vote for the bill, and I know of a bunch of

(11:37):
fiscal conservatives that aren't going to either. So he's either going to have to
make deals with the Democrats, whichhe was doing in this last round,
or he's going to have to comeback home, get away from the tax
and spend mentality, come back tobeing a fiscal conservative, and actually do
things that make a positive difference inthe taxes people are paying. We can

(12:00):
get to tax cuts, but we'regoing to have to be thoughtful about it,
not do interviews where we're calling names, and come around a table and
really have honest conversations about what weneed to see in a tax package.
Can people like Senator Erdman of Baird, Nebraska. Can he be a fair
voice in this since he so stronglysupports the epic tax? And are you

(12:24):
supportive of that? A lot ofpeople looked at it and say, yeah,
I like the sound of this.You know, I think there are
some really core structural problems about theepic tax and how it would work,
especially when it comes to the insuranceindustry and one of our largest employers in
the state essentially being kicked out ofNebraska. But I do appreciate Sunder Erdman's

(12:48):
passion for it. I think he'staken a very thoughtful approach, and he's
put more thought into our tax systemthan a lot of people in the state.
So I think he'll be open tological, logical tax cuts, logical
spending controls, just like any ofthe other fiscal conservatives. I'm very passionate

(13:09):
about cutting back or spending and beingthoughtful about our tax cuts for the long
term. So I think, justlike any any other fiscal conservatives, he'll
he'll approach this special session thoughtfully.And honestly, I got so much more
I want to ask you about here. Let's just let's just get to a
couple of things here. You you'vedecided you're not going to seek a second
full term in the legislature. Now, you and I had a chance to

(13:33):
chat a few times before you werea member of our esteemed unicameral, and
you decided you wanted to make adifference, you wanted to get in there.
Is this everything that you hoped itwould be? As you're there and
you got one person over on thisside of the aisle crying and hysterics for
most of the session, and thisperson on this side of the aisle reading
dirty books. I mean, areyou do you feel like sometimes you're in

(13:58):
the middle of nursery school or ormaybe not even that mature, or has
this been something that you were veryglad you participated in, or are you
ready to get the hell out allof the above? The legislature a lot
of the time is like hurting CarylBarncats on mess. But every day you

(14:18):
get the chance to, if everybodyelse is miss behaving, be the adult
in the room, go to batfor your district. And that's something I
think is really special about Nebraska's unicameralis I get to represent my home region,
like Southeast Nebraska where I grew up. I am that one person for
them that gets to go to batand make a difference. So on that

(14:41):
end, that will never get old, and that is the thing that I
will miss most. On the otherhand, the craziness and the soap opera
that is the Nebraska legislature. Whenpeople let their emotions and relationships get involved,
it's just not productive for Nebraska.But I do have a great use

(15:03):
of my time. I'm going tobe a lawyer and a mom, and
you know what, this is timeI'm never going to get back with my
baby. So I'm very excited tospend some time and be a mom with
to win and yeah, give backin that way. I'm definitely not saying
goodbye. It's just to see youlater. No, I can't wait to

(15:24):
see what you're gonna end up doingor this child that you're raising your own
image. God help us to whatyou know Win is going to be able
to do here. So, justto sum up our conversation, you're willing
to talk with the governor about tryingto find spending tax cuts. You hope
that the special session will produce thatfor Nebraskans. And we don't think that

(15:48):
we should call names as you saidthat you're down there with feral barncats on
meth if I recapped our conversation accurately, Yes, I think that's a pretty
good fination. All right, neverstop being a part of this radio program,
Julie. Thank you very much forthe time today and we'll talk to
you again soon. Hey, anytime, my friend. Thank you. Scott

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Boys Mornings nine to eleven, ourNews Radio eleven ten KFAB