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House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer lauded the historic tax reform, saying, "Hoosiers demanded action on the Governor’s program and it has been delivered." The votes in the House and Senate were by wide bipartisan margins. But Democrats across the state are not in lockstep. Evansville Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel called it "misguided." Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jill Long Thompson (pictured) called the plan a "short-sighted political band-aid" designed to help Gov. Mitch Daniels re-election. Her primary opponent - Jim Schellinger - said, "“Unfortunately, his plan is a stop-gap, election year response to a problem that’s going to come back to haunt us time and again because we haven’t truly addressed its roots. In fact, this plan does little to help average Hoosier homeowners. Under the Daniels plan, the big winners are the Governor’s friends owning multi-million dollar homes. The big losers include: ordinary Hoosiers paying increased sales taxes while they are struggling to make ends meet, local schools and government services, and Indiana’s economic development efforts." Bauer explained, “When the governor first announced his program, House Democrats were the first to raise concerns about how his tax shift would harm working families, seniors and renters. There are provisions in House Bill 1001 that will help property taxpayers immediately. The relief contained in this legislation, combined with the second phase of the property tax cuts approved in a bipartisan manner in 2007, will cut property taxes by nearly $900 million this year. The final agreement contained in House Bill 1001 largely protects these people. We have increased the Earned Income Tax Credit and the renter’s deduction, and helped seniors living on fixed incomes who deserve the chance to keep their homes. Although the plan undoubtedly provides help in 2008, it may not be the final answer. The 600-page House Bill 1001 is a major shift to state funding that carries an enormous price tag, and there is great risk due to the state of our nation’s economy and its impact on the state’s treasury." Mayor Weinzapfel said, "During his State of the State Address, Governor Daniels asked for courage from the General Assembly in dealing with his property tax bill. In the end, I ask what is courageous about raising taxes and telling local governments that they have to cut their budgets.“ The property tax problem that exists in Indiana was created by the State, yet local government has to bear the brunt of the work to fix it. Just think, when we have serious challenges in our state like a meager 71% high school graduation rate, and job growth that has been flat, the State spent this session focusing on misguided micromanagement of local government. From the information I have received, it appears that the City will need to cut $3.2 million from its budget in 2010. This represents 5.4% of our property tax levy. Vanderburgh County would need to cut $1.6 million from its budget in 2010." Thompson said, "Gov. Daniels’ plan hurts schools, local communities and working families, and it does nothing to provide the kind of incentives that would keep good-paying jobs from fleeing our state. While I support property tax relief, I continue to believe that we must do much more. We need to totally overhaul our state’s entire tax structure, including sales, property and income taxes, to ensure we have an equitable system that allows Indiana to better compete in the global marketplace." (HPI Photo by Brian A. Howey)
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This entry was written by and posted on March 17, 2008 at 9:42 am and filed under HPI Weekly. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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