Bauer Will Be Roadblock To Permanent Tax Caps

When you have as your party's leader a man who has represented a gerrymandered district for decades and who has continuously drawn a second paycheck from either a local school district or Ivy Tech, it should come as no surprise that that leader will do everything within his power to block homeowners from receiving the benefit of permanent property tax caps in the Indiana Constitution. House Speaker Pat Bauer has already said he wants to put off a vote on permanent property tax caps until next year. Although the legislature last year easily approved the constitutional amendment, it must be voted on again during the current 2-year legislative session in order to be voted on by voters in 2010. Failing a vote, proponents of property tax caps will have to start the process of amending the constitution anew in 2011.

House Speaker Pat Bauer will have plenty of support from local governments and schools to block a vote on the amendment this year. But as the Star's Bill Ruthhart reports, he'll also have support from the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, which would just as soon keep shifting the property tax burden on to homeowners and away from business as has been the practice for many years. Locally, proponents were dealt a big blow to the tax cap efforts when Democrats Mary Ann Sullivan, Ed DeLaney and John Barnes won their respective House districts in Marion County. All three of these newly-elected legislators accepted tens of thousands of dollars from the Indiana State Teachers Association's political action committee. ISTA opposes making the tax caps permanent as do Sullivan, DeLaney and Barnes. My guess is that Bauer will tie the tax cap amendment up in committee so his members won't have to take an unpopular vote against the measure.