Nebraska’s candidates for governor agree that property taxes must be addressed but sharply disagree on how to do it as voters head into the Nov. 3 general election.
Where candidates align and diverge
Gov. Jim Pillen, who has served nearly four years, framed the problem as politically difficult and urged lawmakers to find 33 votes in the Unicameral to pass a durable fix. Pillen said he favors capping valuations as a path to stability.
“I understand why no governor's tackled this ... because there's a lot of voices come out,” Pillen said. “I'm not worried about that. What we've gotta do is get 33 votes.”
Pillen added that concern from interest groups and lobbyists complicates the process. When asked whether he feared a political price for pushing changes, he said flatly, “No. Nobody's ever worked harder at it than me.”
Brett Lindstrom, running atop the ticket for the new America First party, described an alternative that seeks to smooth year-to-year swings in valuations. Lindstrom favors averaging valuations for agricultural, commercial and residential property and changing parts of the TEEOSA school funding formula, pointing specifically to the local effort rate as a lever to reduce local tax pressure.
“Part of this is — you're going to have to average the valuation so we don't get these 20 to 25% spikes. And you're going to have to go into what they call the TEEOSA formula — how we fund education. In there is what's called the local effort rate. That local effort rate is the biggest lever that we can pull,” Lindstrom said.
The debate over property taxes comes as state spending on relief and school aid accounts for a substantial portion of the budget. The campaign coverage cited that programs and relief tied to property taxes make up about 47% of the state budget, reflecting the tension between limiting local levies and sustaining state-funded services.
Budget pressure and campaign framing
Reporters have noted Nebraska faces fiscal strain: the state is dealing with a budget shortfall that officials have placed at more than $200 million. Candidates across the ticket have said the deficit will shape decisions in the next legislative session.
In the race for the Unicameral and statewide offices, property-tax relief is being pitched as a nonpartisan priority, and contenders emphasize different trade-offs: whether to prioritize short-term relief through valuation caps, longer-term structural changes via averaging, or to couple relief with revenue changes and growth strategies.
- All major gubernatorial candidates say property taxes must change, though they propose different mechanisms.
- Pillen supports capping valuations and winning legislative backing for a sustainable plan.
- Lindstrom favors averaging valuations and adjusting the TEEOSA local effort rate to ease spikes.
The state’s fiscal figures and the details of competing plans will be central to debates in the final days before voters decide the next governor. Election Day is Nov. 3; Nebraska’s polls close in the state’s last time zone.
