THREE DAYS AND COUNTING
If Indiana lawmakers are close to a deal on property taxes, they might want to speed up a bit. There are three days left before lawmakers are forced to adjourn. My sources tell me a lot of lawmakers are concerned about the possibilty of raising the sales tax without caps. They also say a lone tax cap on residential property as proposed by House Speaker Pat Bauer would probably be ruled as unconsitutional since the Indiana Constitution requires all property be taxed in an equitable manner. We’ll be broadcasting live from the State House tomorrow.
Note: The Indiana Election Commission is having two hearings this afternoon. One on whether John McCain is qualified to be on the ballot. The second is over State Senator Brent Waltz and whether he resides in his district.
Extra Note: Andre Carson’s win in the 7th Congressional District race not only makes him a Congressman, but also a super delegate in the Democratic Presidential race. That also helps explain why Barack Obama called Carson right after his win last night to congratulate him.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:01 am
I do not understand why this property tax debate has to be so difficult. The state has been collecting sales disclosure forms for at least fifteen years. The assessed value should be the actual purchase price until the property is resold. This way there would be no need for assesors and the property owners would know what their property taxes would be to a certain extent. According to the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors there are at least 40,000 residential sales per year in the metro which would give the taxing authorities the annual assessed value increases they strive for. Secondly the government should create their budget based upon actual revenue which could be done using this forumla. It appears to me that part of the property tax issue is the local government has increased it’s spending far beyond the CPI and had to inflate property values to make up the shortfall. This seems completely backwards borderline fraudulent. Representative Orentlicher received this same message from me months ago and I have heard nothing from him. How typical.