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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowWithout additional homeowner property tax relief, Gov. Mike Braun said he is “likely” to veto the legislature’s relief proposal and call a special session to address the issue on which he focused his campaign.
Braun was talking to reporters Wednesday when asked whether he would veto Senate Bill 1, which previously carried his plan to slash property taxes but was pared down significantly in committee.
“If it doesn’t improve, I am likely to do both of them, depending on what you need to do to actually get real relief,” he said.
The Senate passed the bill, which had been labeled Republicans’ top priority legislation, 37-10 on Monday. The bill now moves to the House.
The bill previously included most of the property tax plan Braun introduced during his campaign and after his election. But after outcry from local officials, a Senate committee stripped the bill of many of those provisions and changed the approach to one that limits the growth of total tax revenue but does less to directly cut individual tax bills.
Braun’s original plan would have resulted in at least $1.2 billion in property tax cuts in 2026. Several local government leaders warned members of the Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee in January that Braun’s ambitious proposal could harm critical services, pushing back against assertions that local governments could heavily curb spending without significant service cuts.
The amended bill would reduce property taxes—and therefore reduce local government revenue—by about $1.4 billion over three years, according to the bill’s fiscal plan. Even still, cities like Carmel and Greenwood are actively freezing spending and pausing hiring.
Braun’s comments Wednesday doubled down on a statement he released Monday night that also cast doubt on whether he would sign the legislation, which he said should include immediate property tax relief.
After both chambers of the Legislature pass a bill, the governor is required to sign or veto it. If Braun vetoes a bill, the Indiana General Assembly can override his decision with a simple majority vote in both the House and Senate. That’s the same majority needed to pass the bill to the governor for consideration.
The governor has the power to call a special session if “public welfare shall require it,” according to Indiana Code. Braun could call back lawmakers for a maximum of 40 days outside the typical session calendar to pass property tax legislation.
The last special session was in 2022 when former Gov. Eric Holcomb asked legislators to address abortion after a U.S. Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade. Since 1970, Indiana governors have called 14 special sessions, nine of which have been to finish the biennial budget, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
Correction: This story has been corrected to reflect that the General Assembly can override a veto with a simple majority vote. You can see more corrections here.
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Being untethered from reality must be a lovely place for the governor to be.
His veto threat is about as useful as Purdue’s interior defense or Indiana’s late-game coaching from Mike Woodson. It can be overridden by a simple majority.
…and then waste taxpayer money on a special session that will just go nowhere.
Are we great yet?
Braun doesn’t have Musk (I hope) that will bankroll a primary candidate (i.e. hold them hostage) like Trump. So threats of a veto, or a special session won’t work and just cost taxpayers money.
Should have done Governor School before he took the job.
Braun ran for governor because he was tired of having to work collaboratively as an elected official in various legislators.
He must not have leaned during his very short time in the Indiana legislature how limited the powers of the governor are, especially when you’re not really at all engaged with the Republican base.
This is what we get for electing a failed US senator as our governor.
It is not like there weren’t any other qualified candidates running for offices in this STATE !
The governor is living in “Musk” and “DOGE” land, making claims with no proof of outrages spending by locals. Apparently he does not drive on the streets in Indianapolis. Local governments will then need to cut those peskiy services like public safety, street maintenance and find other ways to collect funds to provide services that no one seems to want, of course that is until they are needed.
Elected on sole grounds of being a Trump puppet, he’s find that being the string puller is a much tougher job than being the string pullee.
and its we taxpayers and citizens who are getting our chains yanked…
Indiana is full of TRUMP Stooges . Soon it will be time to ask them how do like him NOW ?
To be fair, our property taxes were artifactually inflated after covid. My house did not double in real value, but my taxes almost did.
But like DOGE, changes are being made without actually looking to see what the repercussions will be. Yes, I can cut $350/month out of my household budget, but that would leave me without electricity and gas. So not really feasible.
Keep up the work?
Good luck appealing. House prices have gone up, and prices will stay up as construction grinds to a halt.
The comps in my neighborhood tell me I’m getting taxed for the fair market value of my house.
David, check comparable sales in your neighborhood. You can probably sell your house for more than its assessed (taxable) value. I’m with Joe…my house is getting taxed at or under fair market value, and if it gets to the point we can’t afford the property taxes, well then we’ll sell and downsize.
If you read the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute report on property taxes post-Covid, what you’ll see is that homestead property taxes went up by a much greater percentage than business property taxes, meaning there was a shift in tax burden from businesses to homeowners. Perhaps a simple tax reform would be to restore the tax ratio between property types that existed pre-pandemic.
Businesses across the nation have been appealing their property taxes for years. Meijer, for example, often appeals and tries to have comparable properties be empty plots of land or strip malls with no stores in it then, for example, a property with a Walmart or Kroger.
Agree and the way to do this is by the supplemental deduction. Our constitutional tax caps won’t allow what needs to happen then throw in all the TIF. Impossible to achieve your suggestion.
Aaron, that’s because the selling price/market value of homesteads went up considerably, while commercial real estate got less valuable (because Amazon, WFH, restaurants closed, etc.). So yes, the proportions shifted.
Lower end homes (those that were under $150K pre-COVID) have been very hard hit, most of them up 75-100% in value during and since COVID.
Braun is already cutting state funding that allowed Indiana kids to get free books.
“In its early stages, the budget bill in Indiana’s state legislature dropped funding for a program that places free books into the hands of kids from birth until age 5.
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, which the country music star started, sends new books each month to more than 10,000 children in St. Joseph County and more than 5,000 in Elkhart, LaGrange and Noble counties.
Now found in every Indiana county, the program has been hailed as helping to raise Indiana’s child literacy ranking from 19th to 6th place nationwide. Early reading skills, advocates say, lead to better academic performance in kindergarten and beyond. “
https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/news/local/2025/02/19/dolly-parton-imagination-library-funding-at-stake-in-indiana-budget-bill/78614530007/
Free? That sounds like “socialism” to a Harvard Business School businessman. Can’t have that.