Governor Shares Some Ideas On Property Taxes

Those looking for radical action right away by the Governor and the legislature on property taxes will probably be disappointed with his announcement late today. He seems to be saying let's just patch up the problem to get us through the rest of the year and wait until the next legislative session or later to provide a long-term solution. In other words, let's do the same thing we've been doing for the past 30 years. Here is the action he is calling for right away as reported by the Star:

Extend the deadline by 2 months to October 1 to allow counties to consider enacting a county option income tax increase to put towards property tax relief. Mayor Peterson and the city-county council Democrats have already decided to raise our local income tax in Marion County by 65%, but all of the $90 million raised will be used to fuel more spending. No help here for Marion County.

Governor Daniels says he has other ideas, which would require legislative action, but he has not yet decided whether to call the legislature back in for a special session to act on those ideas.

The House Republicans also threw out some ideas worthy of consideration. They first of all want to correct the problem of many homeowners losing out on the homestead credit for next year because of delayed tax bills this year. They also want to scrap the discredited rebate plan conjured up in the late hours of this past legislative session by House Speaker Bauer and simply give people credit for it on their second property tax installments this year. They also want an immediate reassessment conducted in problem counties like Marion. As for the long-term, House Republicans want child welfare expenditures lifted from the property tax and picked up by the state, requiring a public referendum on major construction projects funded with property taxes, finding alternative revenue sources for local governments and studying the elimination of the property tax altogether.