Media Availability: 78% of Nebraska voters favor ending county inheritance tax

MEDIA AVAILABILITY with the Platte Institute

Attachments:
Survey Results
Summary of Inheritance Tax and Select Results

Contact: Adam Weinberg
(402) 500-0209
aweinberg@platteinstitute.org

Poll: 78% of Nebraska voters favor ending county inheritance tax
Solid majority of Republicans, Democrats, and independents agree

LINCOLN, NE — Senators in the Nebraska Legislature are preparing to debate Sen. Robert Clements’ Legislative Bill 310 this week, which would reduce the county inheritance tax, and under an amendment, exempt younger beneficiaries from the tax. A new Platte Institute poll shows 78% of voters would favor going farther than that proposal and ending the inheritance tax altogether.

53% of voters strongly supported eliminating the inheritance tax, 25% support it somewhat, 7% somewhat oppose repeal, and 8% strongly oppose it. Seven percent of voters were unsure.

Broken down by voter registration, 86% of Republicans, 64% of Democrats, and 78% of independents supported eliminating Nebraska’s county inheritance tax, while 8% of Republicans, 28% of Democrats, and 15% of independents were opposed.

Platte Institute Chief Executive Officer Jim Vokal is available for comment on these results and has more analysis at PlatteInstitute.org on seven poll questions Nebraskans were asked about the county inheritance tax. The results of the survey are attached, along with a summary about the inheritance tax with select poll results. This content may be republished in whole or in part with attribution to the Platte Institute and its staff.

Highlights include:

• 70% of respondents said they were more likely to favor repealing the county inheritance tax after being read a description of how the tax is levied
• 73% of voters were more likely to favor a gradual repeal of the county inheritance tax over five years
• 66% said that they were more likely to support repeal because the tax was only collected by county governments

“The more Nebraskans learned about how the inheritance tax works, the more they became likely to agree it needs to be ended,” said Vokal.

“These voters would agree that passing LB310 should be just the first of several steps to joining the vast majority of states that don’t have an inheritance tax, and their responses underscore that making ambitious changes to Nebraska’s tax system has strong, nonpartisan appeal,” said Vokal.

In 2021, Iowa passed legislation to gradually repeal its state inheritance tax by 2025. Once that process is done, Nebraska’s county-levied inheritance tax would make it one of only five states to levy an inheritance tax, and the only state west of the Mississippi River to do so.

The survey questions were part of a larger telephone poll on tax issues. A total of 812 registered Nebraska voters were surveyed by the polling firm Cor Strategies in December 2021. The survey’s margin of error is 3.44%.

To schedule an interview on this topic, please contact Adam Weinberg at (402) 500-0209 or aweinberg@platteinstitute.org.

The Platte Institute advances policies that remove barriers to growth and opportunity in Nebraska. More media resources are available at PlatteInstitute.org/Media.