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Update: This bill was debated today and received a 46-0 vote and was showed overwhelming support by our legislature. We will continue to watch this bill as it hopefully makes its way to law. Thank you for your continued support of our legislature and the Chamber.
The Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce frequently works with Legislature to advocate on your behalf to best defend the topics most important to our community. In 2019, LB 153 was introduced to the floor and came up for vote this first session of 2020. As one of the carry-over bills from 2019, we believe it will be one of the first bills debated in 2020 and we wanted to get ahead of this by showing our support, and therefore asking our members to support this bill as well. You can show your support by writing to our District 37 representative, John Lowe. Senator Lowe added this as a priority bill to his campaign in March of 2019, and as such we are sure he would appreciate knowing his community supports his efforts for this bill.
The debate for this bill is to exempt 50% of military retirement benefits from income tax and is supported by the Nebraska Chamber, as well as the Kearney Chamber. Military retirees are a highly skilled workforce that often have years ahead of them in the workplace. Attracting and retaining these individuals in Nebraska is a key economic development opportunity. Our current military retirement income tax exemption does not compete with that of surrounding states. South Dakota, Wyoming, Kansas and Iowa do NOT tax this income at all. With this taxation exemption in other states, it draws those former military members away from Nebraska. The Chamber is continually looking for ways to draw new employers to our area and by offering this exemption to military professionals, it may draw them to stay and work for these employers after their retirement. This is just one of the many ways we are continuing to Add Value to your membership and advocate on your behalf.
Here is a video of Senator Brewer showing why supporting this bill is important for our economy: https://www.facebook.com/nebchamber/videos/610914789743220/
For more information on LB 153 or why we support this bill, contact our President/CEO Derek Rusher.