Nebraska farmer spends 75 percent of income on property taxes; considers leaving family farm

Ken Pralle, a Wymore, Nebraska farmer, never expected farming to be easy.

“It takes dedication, takes somebody that wants to do it,” Pralle said.

But it was never supposed to be this hard.

“There’s been a lot of times in the last couple of years that it’s hard to get up and go out and do things because you feel like you aren’t getting paid for it,” he said.

Because every year he gets a property tax bill that makes his heart drop.

“I swallow real hard and hope to heck I can pay it,” Pralle said.

The numbers speak for themselves.

Last year his 600-acre farm made just over $33,000.

He paid almost $23,000 of that to property taxes, bringing his profits for an entire year’s work to $10,000.

“We need these services, we need this stuff but the way they get money for it,” Pralle said. “It can’t go on this way.”

Property tax is a big issue for Nebraskans.

Governor Pete Ricketts proposed adding funds for relief and capping the amount local governments can levy to three percent.

Pralle said this isn’t enough to quell his worries.

“The horse is out of the barn,” he said. “He’s trying to close the doors after the horse is gone. Our rates are already up there and if he’s gonna say ‘now we can’t increase it by more than 3 percent’ well what’s going to happen is every year it’s gonna keep going up another three percent.”

He said lawmakers need to take real action.

“Completely overhaul the tax system in the state to where it’s equitable and it has to be fair,” Pralle said.

Right now it’s not fair, and his family’s discussed leaving behind the farm he grew up on.

“The only way it’s gonna happen to me is when I do an analysis someday and see I didn’t make any money at all,” Pralle said. “Then it’s like okay I’ve got to make that hard choice.”

A hard choice, indeed.

Because for a place that brings him so much worry and so much pain. There’s also so much joy.

“I love watching newborn calves when they start getting their spirit,” Pralle said. “When they start jumping around, getting their vinegar. That makes me happy more than anything.”