It was supposed to eliminate property taxes, income taxes and corporate taxes across the state.

But as we told you earlier this week, the so-called EPIC tax plan has failed to make the November ballot.

But is the plan going away?

[VIEW OUR FULL VIDEO REPORT ABOVE]

As we've been reporting a major effort to turn the state's tax system upside down the so-called EPIC tax has failed unable to get enough names 123,000 on a statewide petition drive.

But where did the epic folks go from here and how does all this impact governor Jim Pillen’s plan to call a property tax cutting special session of the legislature later this month?

Questions don't come with a lot of clear-cut answers dating back to an exclusive report earlier this year by news channel Nebraska noting that the epic petition drive was likely to fail.

In March EPIC leader State Sen. Steve Erdman respectfully declined to tell NCN how many signatures they had and if he was confident the petition drive would be successful.

NOVEMBER 2023/State Sen. Steve Erdman, Bayard (R): “We understand that it's going to take paid circulators.” 

Joe Jordan, NCN: “And how much do you think you're going to have to raise to pay those paid circulators?”

Sen. Erdman: “Well, I would think it's going to be over $1 million.”

But according to state campaign finance reports, examined exclusively by NCN, at the end of February the EPIC folks had raised $150, 209, spent $95,689 and had $55,108 cash on hand.

Trailblazing Canvassers, the petition circulators, were paid $36,475 last year.

By comparison successful petition drives like the one pushing Voter ID a few years ago spent nearly $2 million much of that going to paid circulators.

Ask for the EPIC folks’ next step, well they tell us they “are NOT going away” that they are studying “all our options.”

But in just a few weeks Gov. Pillen is calling lawmakers back to Lincoln for that special session on taxes, specifically his promise to cut property taxes by 40 percent, which will need a tough-to-find 33 votes.

Will he have the support of the EPIC folks, especially Sen. Erdman?

Well  know this. Pillen was firmly against the EPIC plan and made his opposition well known.