Omaha, NE (April 3, 2024) – The AAF Nebraska Legislative committee has focused on opposing LB 1354, the Advertising Services Tax Act. The Nebraska Governor is proposing to implement a 7.5% tax on all advertising services in the state for companies with over $1 billion in US revenue. The tax will be passed through to local businesses in the form of either higher advertising cost or as a line item on the invoice for the service provider. The local business will then add the higher advertising cost to the price of its goods and services, causing higher prices for Nebraska Consumers.
Two AAF Nebraska members testified against LB 1354 on Feb. 01, 2024 at the Legislative Revenue Committee hearing, and others in the federation members submitted letters in opposition. AAF Nebraska has reached out to multiple members of the Nebraska State Senators on the Revenue Committee as well as the State Senators representing the districts our members live in about our concerns. The AAF Nebraska Legislative team has been in communication with the Nebraska State Senator who sponsored LB 1354 to voice our concern about the unintended consequences on small business, job growth, and Nebraska’s overall economic health. The AAF Nebraska Legislative team submitted an OP ED to the Nebraska Examiner voicing opposition to LB 1354.
This year marked the third AAF Nebraska Ad Day Under the Dome, hosted on March 27, 2024. The AAF Nebraska Legislative team started the day by hosting an AAF Nebraska Legislative Breakfast event at the Hruska Bar Foundation Conference Room located across the street for the state capital building and invited State Senators from the Revenue, Banking, Commerce, Insurance, Educational, and Business & Labor Committees. The goal was to share updated data on the economic impact the advertising industry brings to Nebraska’s economy, concerns of proposed advertising taxes and data privacy issues. As a result of Legislative session calendar changes for the introduction of the combined LB388 which included tax on advertising, the attendance wasn’t as expected. The AAF Nebraska Legislative team and members moved on to the 2nd phase of the AAF’s Ad Day Under the Dome event and walked across the street to the Capital Building and pulled state senators out of session to share our concerns why we oppose the new combine LB 388 and left materials for future reference. These efforts turned out be more successful than the prior year for the number of senators the AAF Nebraska team spoke with. It was a grass roots effort to build personal connections with these Senators so they will keep the advertising community in the forefront when considering the combined LB388. The AAF Legislative team followed up with calls and emails to the State Senators we were unable to speak with.
