FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GOP SENATORS SUPPORT SWIFT, SIGNIFICANT
PERMANENT PROPERTY TAX REFORM
By Sen. David Long
STATEHOUSE – My Senate Republican colleagues and I support swift, significant and permanent property tax relief.
We understand for many Hoosiers there is a property tax crisis and action must be taken and must be taken this session. We know this is a crucial, critical moment for many homeowners, farmers and business owners. Senate Republicans are prepared to take decisive action without delay on their behalf.
While Hoosiers openly acknowledge that property taxes are local taxes – annually determined, collected and spent at the local level – property taxpayers are looking to the General Assembly and the governor to solve the problem. Because property taxes are driven by local government services and spending, Hoosiers are telling us that local government spending must be controlled and local government should be overhauled and modernized. Our caucus welcomes Gov. Mitch Daniels’ proposal as a solid foundation for permanent property tax reform. In addition, we look forward to the recommendations of the governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on local government reform co-chaired by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randall Shepard.
We agree with the majority of Hoosiers who believe using market values are the most fair and accurate standard of assessing a property’s worth, but that the multi-tiered assessment system of 1,100 different assessors is itself broken. We are committed to creating a statewide assessment system that is fair, uniform, manageable and transparent. Such a system, in most people’s judgment, will have one assessor per county… either elected or appointed… who is properly trained and appropriately staffed with certified personnel.
In addition, we will offer our own proposals to more closely align state responsibilities with state budgets and local responsibilities with local budgets. The most obvious example is school funding. Because our Indiana Constitution gives state government the role of providing for public education, my colleagues and I are committed to removing any remaining school general fund costs from the backs of property taxpayers – the most overburdened of whom are often our senior citizens and young families.
Senate Republicans will continue to encourage bipartisan cooperation this session to craft changes in the property tax system that are -- in the governor’s words ‘fair, far reaching and final’ – for fellow taxpayers, and, where necessary, amend those protections into our Indiana Constitution to guarantee their permanence.
Sen. David Long (R-Fort Wayne) is President Pro-Tem of the Indiana Senate. He serves District 16, which includes portions of Fort Wayne
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