Panel hears sweeping proposal to cut vehicle taxes, shift school revenue to counties; schools warn of funding gaps

Senator Rob Clements told the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee LB714 aims to restructure how Nebraska collects and distributes motor vehicle taxes and fees with two goals: lower motor vehicle tax burdens on vehicle owners and shift a larger share of revenue to counties.

Clements said the bill would change the yearly fraction multipliers used to calculate the motor vehicle personal property tax so the tax drops faster over a vehicle's life, which the DMV estimated would produce roughly 18%–20% savings for owners and about $70 million less collected statewide annually under current rates. He also said LB714 would raise the county share of distributed motor vehicle revenue from about 22% to 40%, producing roughly $37,000,000 to counties statewide, while lowering the school…