Many Hoosier homeowners have already received their latest property tax bill—or will in the coming days–and discovered the jump, which ranges from zero change in one county to more than 20% in four counties around the state.
Proponents characterize the strategy as funding students instead of systems, while opponents argue it leaves fewer resources for students in Indiana’s traditional public schools.
The proposal for the popular economic development tool used by Hoosier cities and counties focuses on transparency, accountability and benefits for school corporations.
The measure would provide multiple remedies to temporarily drop tax bills, including through a short-term property tax cap and an increase in state income tax deductions. It would also curb how much local units can raise their tax levies.
Taxable residential assessed values shot up 15% in Indiana from 2021 to 2022—even after tax abatements, deductions and credits—according to data from the Association of Indiana Counties.
The proposed operating referendum would provide $50 million annually over an eight-year period to expand student programs and increase teacher pay through the program.
A new study projects homeowners’ bills payable this year could increase as much as 15%. That’s more than double what previous reports estimated for the upcoming bills.
Currently, there are 13 township assessors in nine different Indiana counties. The remaining 83 counties only have a county assessor.
Indiana lawmakers are drawing up changes to the state’s property-tax system, with rising assessments last spring pointing toward potentially high bills this year. But their approach has been cautious.
IPS heads into the new year amid public disagreement between district officials and some charters over how much funding from the referendum should be split up between different schools, if voters approve it.
That was not case in Westfield, where voters approved a property-tax change to help fund operations at the fast-growing Westfield Washington Schools district.
The tax referendum—which would be on the May 2023 ballot—would increase the median homeowner’s bill by $6 per month, IPS officials said.
The council voted 8-1 in favor of the 1% food and beverage tax that would raise an estimated $3.2 million a year toward the construction of the Fishers Events Center.
With about 83 percent of Marion County vote centers reporting, 60% of Perry Township voters favored an extension of a property tax increase they first approved in 2015.
The pandemic has affected commercial real estate but owners of property in Marion County have not yet seen changes on their property tax bill that reflect those impacts.
Residential homeowners in Indiana already pay 45.6% of the property tax burden and that would rise to 51% by 2026 even without a legislative proposal to reduce the business personal property tax, according to a study commissioned by the Association of Indiana Counties.
Indiana Senate Republicans are not moving forward with their own tax cut proposals aimed at reducing business personal property taxes and offering a temporary sales tax holiday, casting doubt on a key provision in the House Republicans’ $1 billion tax-cut plan.
Republicans in the Indiana House passed their $1 billion individual income and business tax-cut proposal Thursday on a 68-25 party-line vote, sending it to the Senate, where its future is murky.
While the push for broad tax cuts has been coming primarily from Indiana House Republicans so far this legislative session, some Senate Republicans are offering more modest alternatives exclusively aimed at reducing the personal property tax businesses pay on equipment.
Republicans on the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee passed their $1 billion tax-cut proposal Wednesday night on a 15-7 party-line vote, sending it to the full House for consideration.
