Indiana lawmakers push for Internet taxes
A bipartisan duo of state lawmakers wants Congress to allow states to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases, a move they say could bring hundreds of millions of dollars to cash-strapped Indiana.
A bipartisan duo of state lawmakers wants Congress to allow states to collect sales taxes on Internet purchases, a move they say could bring hundreds of millions of dollars to cash-strapped Indiana.
House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, said the state’s next two-year budget doesn’t have to be “honestly balanced,” meaning the state could spend more than it takes in by dipping into reserves if the economy continues to sag.
The State Budget Committee has approved Indiana State University's plans to turn the former Terre Haute federal building into a business school.
Dwindling tax revenues will cause a projected $1.3 billion budget gap as the state enters its next budget, according a report released Thursday by the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute.
The state Budget Agency reported Friday that Indiana collected $938 million in August. That’s $51 million above the most recent forecast, but still $2 million less than projected in the budget lawmakers passed in early 2009.
The state's largest farm organization says it will strongly support efforts to retain township trustees and township advisory boards. Several legislative proposals in recent years have sought to shrink local government and eliminate or consolidate such positions.
The state has a new transparency website that pulls together Indiana budget data, spending reports and other financial information
that had previously been spread across multiple sites.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels says he doesn't want to see trustees of the state's public colleges and universities asking
for more money at the Statehouse.
Daniels has publicly railed against the newly approved $26 billion stimulus package, but his office said Friday that applications
had been submitted for about $200 million toward Medicaid and about $200 million for education.
Despite criticizing the latest stimulus package, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he will ask the federal government to send
the state more than $435 million for schools and Medicaid.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels says the state's current assessment is that education funding will not have to be reduced further
after $300 million in cuts this year.
The State Budget Agency reported Wednesday that Indiana collected $917 million in July, $15 million below the most recent
revenue projections.
Officials say most of the university's nearly 20,000 employees statewide didn't receive any pay increases last year.
As Indiana’s reserves dwindle toward zero and federal stimulus money disappears, trying to keep political debate friendly
and the budget in the black will be quite a challenge. Half a year before they must craft the next state budget, Democrats
and Republicans already are squabbling.
Indiana brought in $957 million less in revenue than it budgeted for fiscal year 2010, forcing it to use almost half its reserves,
Indiana State Auditor Tim Berry announced Friday morning.
A new report says health insurance for Indiana's public schools and universities could cost at least $450 million less annually if they joined the state's plan for public employees.
Indiana's latest effort to cut spending will leave the state office that provides copies of birth and death certificates
open to the public only four days a week.
The State Budget Agency said Thursday that collections through 11 months of the current fiscal year stand about $1 billion
below the budget passed by the General Assembly in June 2009.
Minority Leader Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, said the Republican governor’s budget director told her that a comprehensive list
of executive branch budget reductions wasn’t available. She said that’s unacceptable.
Committee Chairman Sen. Luke Kenley says it's "vital" for state officials to get a handle on the fiscal impact
of the health care changes as they begin the early stages of putting together the next two-year state budget.