Ricketts: Tax bill great for families, despite hit to state revenues

Sen. Pete Ricketts said Wednesday it’s up to Gov. Jim Pillen and the Legislature to decide how to handle a projected loss in state revenue from the tax bill he supported in Congress.

Ricketts said the bill will benefit average Nebraskans, but he hasn’t thought about how it will affect his family.

The Nebraska Department of Revenue estimates the tax and budget bill passed by Congress will reduce state revenues by more than $200 million in the current two-year budget cycle. Ricketts was asked if that would stymie efforts to reduce property taxes. He deferred to his successors.

“I will certainly leave it up to the current governor and the Legislature to manage the budget. When I was governor, what we did is we focused on controlling spending to be able to deliver tax relief,” he said.

Ricketts touted how the federal legislation would affect the average Nebraska family.

“The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is gonna be great for Nebraska families, … (It) avoided a $2,400 tax increase that would have gone into effect. And I don't think anybody is arguing that they wanted to see that tax impact go into effect,” he said.

Ricketts often cites the taxes that will be saved by the average Nebraska family under the bill, which kept the 2017 Trump tax cuts in place rather than letting them expire. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the largest tax savings would go to the those in the top 10% of income in the country. Ricketts said he didn’t know, when asked how much his own family would save.

“With regards to my own personal information – personal situation – I haven’t looked at that at all,” he said.