CAPITOL NOTES
Indiana lawmakers spent a lot of time dealing with property taxes on Tuesday. In the House, lawmakers dealt with dozens of amendments to Governor Mitch Daniels’ plan for tax relief. The Governor has always said he’s accept amendments as long as they achieve his goals of short-term relief, long-term reform, changing the assessment system.
Lawmakers kept intact, for the most part, caps on assessments and the elimination of township assessors. However they did amend the Governor’s referendum proposal for local school projects, taking out referendum requirements for construction projects for academic facilities like science labs but leaving them in for gyms, swimming pools and natatoriums. House Speaker Pat Bauer says he wanted to balance the needs of local school districts, while making sure taxpayers had a voice in the process.
In addition the House also passed $350 million in new spending, Democrats called it tax relief while Republicans chastised the majority party for fiscal irresponsibility. Despite that, Republican leader Brian Bosma said the plan was about 60-percent of what they wanted as a caucus and will likely vote for the measure when it comes up for a final vote.
On the Senate side lawmakers assigned SJR-8, the constitutional amendment to eliminate property taxes, to a study committee. Proponents say they will try to use other methods to eliminate property taxes.
