Indiana Property Taxes

New assessments are out and they are UP!!

So like so many of you I received my latest property tax assessment form in the mail this week and saw a little over a 20% increase year over year. Social media has blown up over what so many are seeing in their mailboxes and apparently the local Assessors office is getting the brunt of the blowback.

I’m just going to come out and say a few things.

First this is not on the Assessor, County Commissioners, County or City council. There are avenues to appeal your assessment if the value is higher than market value which I’m guessing most are not. The Assessor is doing his job. The object of your wrath belongs elsewhere.

First let me say I hate property taxes as a principle. They are unfair, confiscatory, on unrealized gains and never ending. They are as un-American as you can get in my opinion. The idea that you never really own your own home or property because in theory the government can tax you out of ownership is horrible. I don’t want to hear any excuses or arguments for property tax unless it’s a one time fee.

Second the Indiana General Assembly(your elected state representatives) knew full well this was coming and did absolutely nothing about it. In fact they did worse than that. They did what they always do when forced into an issue they don’t want to deal with. They made some noise and put together a legislative crap sandwich they called property tax relief and praised themselves for addressing the issue. They in fact made the situation worse because they didn’t effectively cut property taxes and they opened the door for local income tax increases.

Our Democrat mayor bears some blame as well as he joined with basically every local government official in Indiana who went to the statehouse to testify that if we cut property taxes they would have to cut fire and police protection. A typical and pathetic political ploy that has been sounded so often it’s like a broken record. Also it’s assuming government can never in any way at any time actually cut spending on stupid things to prioritize essential services. We as taxpayers have to do that with our family budget but don’t ever ask the government to pinch pennies or make cuts. God forbid!

The bottom line is that the Statehouse knew this was on it’s way and did nothing to help. In fairness the public was not fully engaged and didn’t realize what was coming so the pressure to do real property tax reform just wasn’t there. If it wasn’t for the heavy lifting being done by Rob Kendall of the Kendall and Casey show(top morning news and talk show in Indy) along with Lieutenant Gov Micah Beckwith there wouldn’t have been ANY addressing of this important issue.

I don’t even recognize the Republican party anymore. We used to campaign on and be known by cutting taxes and limiting the size of government. What a joke! We just raised taxes on tobacco in the latest budget after raising gas taxes several years ago and are apparently fine with this massive tax hike on homeowners. While I’m on that subject. What in the world ever happen to understanding supply side economics??? Do they know that when taxes are cut in effective and permanent ways on producers that tax revenues increase not decrease? Free enterprise is not a zero sum game. Ours is a dynamic economy where we can all “win”. Just because someone makes a dollar does not mean someone else loses a dollar. Just because a tax is cut does not mean it has to be “paid for” elsewhere! I feel like half these politicians need to go back to school. Anyway that is what is means to be a Reagan conservative like so many of these folks claim to be.

Governor Braun missed a huge political opportunity. Do you realize where he would be politically right now If he had vetoed the property tax bill like his Lieutenant Governor suggested and the base wanted? The legislature would still be in the midst of revising the bill when the new assessments would have hit. Governor Braun would have had all the political leverage he needed to get real property tax reform done. His approval would have soared and he would have been seen as the hero. Instead he became a part of the problem. This was a self inflicted wound that will only get worse if something isn’t done to lower the tax burden on property owners.