When it comes to taxes all four key GOP candidates for governor spent the day making it clear what they don’t like but none trotted out any specific, detailed fix-it plans making it clear what they do like. 

And some of those criticisms—while not naming fellow Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts by name—targeted his administration.

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Charles Herbster, who is endorsed by former President Donald Trump and who has sparred with Ricketts for the past several months, told a Nebraska Chamber of Commerce forum: “Nebraska is not falling behind, we're way behind. OK, let's identify what the true problem is. I can share this with you, you cannot run a business like I see our government and even our state government run our state government.”

Former State Sen. Theresa Thibodeau, who was appointed to the Legislature by Ricketts, sees at least some careless oversight: “We cannot address our tax problem without addressing our spending problem. As governor I will do a deep dive into all government agencies that receive state funding and figure out the waste and inefficiencies and cut them.”

And State Sen. Brett Lindstrom is challenging the state tourism slogan, “Nebraska, Honestly, it’s not for everyone,” which was adopted in 2018:  “We have individuals leaving the state of Nebraska that can help with our workforce and growing Nebraska and being innovative. But we’ve messaged as Nebraska literally and figuratively that it’s not for everyone. And what type of message does that send to the entire nation, that we're not open for business.”

When the tax question came to him NU Regent Jim Pillen, who has been endorsed by Ricketts, was quick to pounce on the so-called “epic tax”— a move to create a statewide sales or consumption tax while repealing the state income tax, state sales tax, property tax, and the inheritance tax.

"I'm opposed to epic tax. It will hurt our economy," said Pillen.  "If we tell Nebraskans that the only way that we are going to solve our problems is by paying tax when we buy things, Nebraskans are not going to buy things, they'll go other places."

Pillen did not detail what tax plan he favors. His web site says, "We need to limit the growth in spending by local taxing entities and modernize our tax structure to address property taxes once and for all."

At the same time Herbster was also specifics light, not endorsing the consumption tax, not revoking it.

But in a May 4, 2021 statement Herbster sounded all-sales-tax, all-the-time: “An across-the-board consumption tax will fully fund our schools and attract new companies to Nebraska, while making our system more fair.” And his web site appears to double down: “The creation of a new consumption-based tax system will rebuild those forgotten communities and restore the heart of our state.”

So at the very least, in a race somewhat dominated by endorsements—Ricketts for Pillen/Trump for Herbster—the consumption tax appears to mark at least one distinct issue difference between those two.

By the way, the lone Democrat on stage— State Sen. Carol Blood—who is unopposed in her party's primary, left the audience with this: "If you're unhappy with how things have been the last few decades, if you're unhappy with the fact that your property taxes are too high, then I'm going to ask you, 'Why do you keep voting the same way?'"