Steve Lathrop - Budget and Taxes

Budget and Taxes

Senator Lathrop supported fiscally responsible budget bills during his six legislative sessions. In the fall of 2009, a special session was convened to make adjustments to the budget due to decreases in state revenue. As a result, the Legislature passed a proposal that was supported by Senator Lathrop that will result in $337 million of budget savings during the next two years without raising taxes.

During his six years, Senator Lathrop supported legislation that reduced taxes in Nebraska. In 2007, he supported LB 367 that made several changes to Nebraska’s tax structure, including the elimination of Nebraska’s estate tax and “marriage penalty,” the creation of a property tax credit program, the elimination of the sales and use tax for construction labor and community based energy development projects, and increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 2012, he supported Senator Abbie Cornett's bill (LB 970) that lowered income tax rates for all Nebraskans.

In 2013, Senator Lathrop introduced a bill that would create the County Property Tax Assistance Program and the Municipal Property Tax Assistance Program (LB 370). LB 370 would allow the State of Nebraska to provide funds to these two programs and when a county or a municipality received the funds, they would use them in place of property taxes. When doing so, they would have to reduce their property tax collections by the same amount. If utilized, these programs would result in actual property tax reductions for Nebraskans.