Post Tagged with: "taxes"

Tax authority may be ‘gone with the wind’

Tax authority may be ‘gone with the wind’

 

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha may win his efforts to rescind the city’s authority to impose an extra half-cent of local sales taxes.

Two of our pals in Lincoln — Joe Duggan and Paul Hammel — report that similar efforts, aimed at all Nebraska cities, failed twice earlier this legislative session. But a late 30-5 vote on Tuesday gives Chambers a victory on his third attempt to repeal his city’s taxing authority.

“This is a righteous and just vote that was taken today, and it removes a cloud from above the heads of poor and limited-income people,” Chambers said afterward.

The City of Omaha’s official position was to retain the taxing authority, which the Legislature passed last year over the governor’s veto. Omaha elected officials have not yet sought to increase the sales tax, which would require a vote of the people. The amendment was attached to a bill providing incentives for wind energy, which must now pass final reading and obtain Gov. Dave Heineman’s signature before it becomes law.

Duggan and Hammel also say the stance of Omaha Mayor-elect Jean Stothert, who opposes the half-cent law, also influenced Tuesday’s surprising vote.

May 22, 2013 Read More
Suttle on Stothert’s tax plans

Suttle on Stothert’s tax plans

Another ad from Mayor Jim Suttle’s campaign takes on Jean Stothert’s city finance ideas.

May 6, 2013 Read More
Hard feelings persist over tobacco tax

Hard feelings persist over tobacco tax

Hard feelings about the city’s passage of an occupation tax on tobacco to help fund a $370 million cancer center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center were still evident during a hearing before the Legislature’s Revenue Committee.

Paul Hammel reports City of Omaha officials gave a verbal pledge to a panel of legislators Wednesday to collect no more than $35 million from its recently enacted local tax on tobacco.

March 14, 2013 Read More
Ben, Freddie Gray owe $49K in back taxes

Ben, Freddie Gray owe $49K in back taxes

Omaha City Councilman Ben Gray and his wife, Freddie, president of the OPS board, owe almost $50,000 to the federal government in back income taxes.

Ben Gray, however, said the couple have been paying off the debt and are caught up through 2000. He said they still owe about $49,000.

Ben Gray was elected to represent District 2 on the City Council in 2009. He retired from the television business in 2008, after a 35-year career as a photojournalist.

Freddie Gray has served on the Omaha Public Schools board since 2008. She has been the board’s president since January 2012.

January 10, 2013 Read More
Cig tax approved

Cig tax approved

Five sponsors of the proposal — Pete Festersen, Garry Gernandt, Ben Gray, Chris Jerram and Tom Mulligan — each voted to pass a new city tax on tobacco sales, along with an agreement that grants the vast majority of any revenue generated to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

The council again reduced the scale of the proposed tax. Instead of adding 4.5 percent to local gross sales of tobacco products as planned, the council approved a 3 percent tax after considering tobacco sales data provided by Phillip Morris. We’ll post more soon about the dueling revenue projections.

October 2, 2012 Read More
$90k in wheel tax refunds in the mail

$90k in wheel tax refunds in the mail

Our pal Paul Hammel reports more than a thousand suburban Omaha residents are set to get a wheel tax refund check from the city.

The City of Omaha had been wrongly charging the $50-a-year wheel tax on some people living outside the city’s three-mile zoning jurisdiction, Hammel reports, a problem pointed out by State Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha.

Deputy City Attorney Tom Mumgaard said refunds should be issued by by mid- to late October. Some taxpayers will get checks for two years’ worth of wheel taxes.

Mumgaard said that preliminary estimates are that $90,000 in refunds will be sent out.

September 26, 2012 Read More
Cigarette tax plan gets smaller

Cigarette tax plan gets smaller

Omaha’s proposed tax on cigarettes to help fund a University of Nebraska Medical Center project got a big, last-minute change before Tuesday’s public hearing before the Omaha City Council.

The plan had previously called for a 7 percent tax, but now it’s been dropped to 4.5 percent. At that rate, the tax would bring in about $5 million this year and about $40.7 million by 2021. The city’s proposed contribution to the $370 million cancer center project is $35 million.

City Finance Director Pam Spaccarotella said officials revised the proposal after reviewing state data on tobacco sales.

Five council members have signed on as sponsors of the tax plan, which has drawn criticism from cigarette retailers and Gov. Dave Heineman, among others.

September 26, 2012 Read More
Smokers could help fund new cancer center

Smokers could help fund new cancer center

The Douglas County Board agreed Tuesday to contribute $5 million worth of inheritance tax revenue to help fund a $323 million cancer center for the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

The City of Omaha could also chip in a $35 million contribution to the UNMC project — but the money would come from a proposed new tax on cigarettes.

City Councilman Chris Jerram, a sponsor of the cigarette tax proposal, said the idea emphasizes public health and job creation.

“It’s taxing tobacco to care for those who would develop cancer from it and provide the best research possible, while at the same time having a huge economic impact,” Jerram said. Not everyone is on board with the idea, however.

We expect to get our first look at the proposed ordinance’s language sometime next week.

Smokers and non-smokers: what do you make of this idea?

September 11, 2012 Read More
Council knocks Suttle, adds money to budget

Council knocks Suttle, adds money to budget

The City Council made an effort to negate salary increases quietly awarded to some top city officials, eliminated money set aside by Mayor Jim Suttle’s administration for an extra city lobbyist and produced some $1.5 million to finance a handful of efforts. The city’s overall budget was still approved Tuesday.

Suttle accepted the council’s budget adjustments and said he’ll honor its desire to withhold salary increases. We’re still waiting to hear details as to how that will work. Though salary bumps for some department directors were first included in the 2013 budget, many of them went into effect in January without the public’s knowledge.

Other council-sponsored amendments also produced some $1.5 million to finance a handful of efforts, including demolishing more condemned houses and bolstering street resurfacing.

August 29, 2012 Read More
Higher sales tax? Not so fast

Higher sales tax? Not so fast

It looks like there will be no fast track on a higher sales tax in Omaha.

After the Legislature gave the proposal its final approval this week – by overriding the governor’s veto – I called Omaha City Council members to get their take.

Three (Pete Festersen, Tom Mulligan and Jean Stothert) said they’re against putting a higher sales tax to a vote in Omaha.

The new law sets up the City Council as the first gatekeeper on any proposal. A super-majority, five out of seven members in Omaha’s case, would have to approve putting the issue on the ballot.

If three are opposed, any proposal is going nowhere for now. You can read my story here.

Is the idea dead? Not entirely. The Mayor’s Office plans to start talking with different sectors of the community about the issue.

So it might take more time and more debate before the issue comes before voters.

April 20, 2012 Read More