Right Vote, Wrong Reason

Michigan Township is on flames and Rep. Scott Pelath could have taken the politically easy path and voted for HB 1001 - the so-called property tax reform bill.  Likewise, Jim Arnold, Ryan Dvorak, and Craig Fry could have also taken the easy street.  But they didn’t.  Instead, these Northern Indiana legislators had enough courage to break ranks from the bi-partisan legislative lovefest and voted against it. It was refreshing to see some local legislators pulling back the curtain to take a closer look at what they were voting on and deciding that No-Deal was preferable to Bad-Deal.

But I  really appreciated the viewpoint column that Rep. Pelath had in the News-Dispatch on Mar 15

 http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=50&SubSectionID=118&ArticleID=10980&TM=24104.28

Often, about all we hear on key issues from a legislator is a couple of edited sentences or a nine second  radio clip, usually supporting whatever position the Old Party leadership has chosen to pursue.  But Pelath’s viewpoint nailed many legitimate concerns about the ”property tax reform” that was just signed into law. 

I think that Rep Pelath is right that -

• HB 1001 doesn’t provide long-term substantial relief. 
• In many ways HB 1001 will make the problems even worse
• HB 1001 will cut property taxes for some while driving them up on others
• HB 1001 certainly does not live up to the definition of permanent relief
• HB 1001 resulted in a substantial hike in the state sales tax as well as potential increases in local option taxes
• There is a very good chance that the increases in sales and income taxes will be greater than the savings in property taxes for many working families, seniors, and renters
• The national economy is slowing.  Like the income of many Hoosier Taxpayers, state revenues are behind projections and it has not met recent revenue targets.
• Legislators have touted many programs as “the answer” to Indiana’s property tax relief crisis only to have to return a few years later with yet another “answer.” 
•  HB 1001 was not the answer and legislators will be addressing property taxes again in very short order

However, where I think Rep Pelath is seriously off the mark with his analysis is about the revenue caps that the bill put on local schools and government. 

 http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&subsectionID=1&articleID=11266

  For far too long, schools have been given a blank check on school construction projects.  Taj Mahals have been erected at taxpayer expense that do little to improve the quality of education but do a lot to fatten wallets of architects, lawyers, bankers,  and other consultants connected to the bonding and construction of school buildings.  Similarly, many local government have been very wasteful with the taxpayer’s money but always manage to hide behind cutting police and fire protection whenever their wasteful ways are questioned. Although Indiana’s Constitution was supposed to limit government debt to 2% of Assessed Value, our elected ”public servants” creatively figured out how to get around that little constitutional problem and have taken local debt to outrageous levels

 http://www.wndu.com/localnews/headlines/16763711.html

 Unfortunately the DLGF has been AWOL for years while the local spending was ramped up but to Governor Daniels’ credit, he has at least been trying to do something about out-of-control school construction costs.

There were a lot of good ideas that were originally contained in HB 1001 - many ideas were similar to suggestions that the Libertarian Party of Indiana previously had in the Tax Plan it offered to state legislators in December 2001 before the last “property tax reform.”  But with HB1001, those good ideas are missing some key components that would have made them actually work well, kind of like building a great automobile body but taking the engine out of the final product.  While it may look spectacular on the outside,  it is not going to get anybody where they need to go.

Appropriately starting on April Fool’s Day, Indiana Taxpayers will begin to see that the “property tax cut” legislators are now touting will magically morph into a tax hike to those who pay the bills. Perhaps someday very soon, voters will see that Governor Daniels, Speaker Bauer  and the bi-partisan coalition of legislators who took aim at the property tax disaster with HB1001 hit their target about as well as Dick Cheney hits a duck. They got their shot off at the last minute but nobody is going to be very happy with what their buckshot actually hits.  While it may not be fatal,  it certainly is going to be as irritating as Hell for those getting hit.

This entry was posted on 25. March 2008 at and is filed under Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.