March, 2008

Republican Bob Heaton and former Indiana State Sycamore star is running against Democrat Vern Tincher for HD 46. He will begin running the ad below in Terre Haute tomorrow.

Sen. Frank Mrvan, D-Hammond, thought the proposal tried to do too much.

"We should pass the 1 percent cap on homeowners, and that should be it," he said. "Every time you give a break to someone" it ends up costing your schools and local governments.

There you have it. The Democrats think that preserving government spending is more important than your tax bill.

Democrats are trying to eliminate the tax caps for rental and commercial property. They are also trying to prevent the caps from being written into the constitution.

This week, Senate and House Republicans came together to outline their joint proposal for property tax reform, a plan that goes a long way towards providing Hoosier taxpayers immediate and permanent relief. Throughout the session, Governor Daniels has been accepting of modifications to his property tax proposal. He does, however, insist that the four basic pillars of the plan – immediate relief, permanent protection, assessment reform and local spending control – remain in place in the final version. The Republicans have maintained these must-haves.

The version of tax reform put forth by the two Republican caucuses reflects several concessions to Democrat members. The Governor has agreed to these compromises in order to provide the best solution possible to all Hoosiers. He has agreed to phase in the circuit breaker caps, raising the earned income tax credit, increasing the renters deduction, just to name a few. That said, the Governor and I expect the same cooperation from Democrats in both chambers.

As a former legislator myself, I am confident that all 150 legislators would prefer to pass a lasting and permanent property tax package now instead of going back year after year – as they have been doing – to tweak the law. While the Republican compromise plan is not anyone’s first choice, it is certainly better than status quo. And like the Governor has said, anyone who can’t agree on this plan is not ready to protect Hoosier homeowners.

OK… what doesn’t make sense here:

Last week Indiana Democrats presented their ‘numbers’ to the media to get the public to see their side and instigate panic to property owners.

And today….the Courier Journal has this to say about the press conference by Republicans regarding the Indiana’s tax reform:

But Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer dismissed the event as a partisan stunt and said negotiating by news conference was not the way to reach compromise on a plan.