Peterson Asks for $85 Million Tax Increase
Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson is asking the City-County Council to raise taxes to pay for public safety. The Mayor is asking the Council to take advantage of new revenue enhancement measures passed by the General Assembly this year and increase local taxes.
Under the plan, the Council would adopt a Local Option Income Tax (LOIT) to replace increases in the County’s levy, as well as a public safety income tax to pay for police and crime prevention programs. The Mayor says implementing the public safety income tax would allow the city to have a revenue stream to pay for outstanding police pensions and invest in crime prevention programs as outlined by the Mayor’s Crime prevention task force.
The public safety tax would be levied at half a percent and is expected to generate about 85 million dollars in new revenue.
However, because the city is preparing its budget for next year, the Mayor says the tax increase must be passed before the Council begins budget deliberations.
The $85 million tax increase would come on the heals of increases in local property taxes, some of which are expected to go up by 50 percent.
