This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected
to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes. And its giant coffers have been raided over the years for other government
expenses.
The Indiana General Assembly finally adjourned its 2010 legislative session early Saturday with deals including a one-year
delay on unemployment insurance tax increases and aid for schools reeling from state budget cuts.
Both parties reportedly agreed to tentative deals on the issues that threatened to push the legislative session all the way
to the brink, including a one-year delay for a planned increase in unemployment taxes.
The impasse between the two parties over a delay in an unemployment-tax increase is expected to drag the legislative session
into the weekend. "Nobody is talking right now," says one legislator.
The full Indiana House returned to the Statehouse after a five-day break, but partisan differences remained over an unemployment
insurance tax bill.
Negotiations on some major issues resumed in the Indiana General Assembly on Monday after a meltdown occurred last week.
The Republican-controlled Indiana Senate kept working Friday while House Speaker Patrick Bauer adjourned his Democrat-led
chamber until Wednesday.
Tax collections for February fell $86 million below a revised December forecast. Revenue is down $166 million in the first
three months since that forecast.
The Indiana House approved legislation Wednesday that would repeal an unemployment-insurance tax increase and approved a package
of tax credits and other incentives designed to create jobs.
The legislation would repeal an increase on taxes that employers pay into the state’s unemployment insurance fund, which is
deeply in debt to the federal government.
An Indiana House committee endorsed legislation Wednesday that would delay for one year increases in taxes that employers
pay into the state’s bankrupt unemployment insurance fund.
Indy Connect will hold its first public forum Tuesday evening to begin the process of gathering public input on a regional
transportation plan that proposes raising taxes to build a light-rail line, improve bus service and expand roadways.
Whether to delay increases in taxes that employers pay to Indiana’s unemployment insurance fund is becoming a
contentious issue in the General Assembly.
The president’s budget offers tax cuts for businesses, including a $5,000 tax credit for hiring new workers this year, help
for the unemployed and $25 billion more for cash-strapped state governments. Job creation will take precedence over stemming
a surging deficit.
The proceeds will help more than 120 local government units pay their bills while they wait for their
property tax receipts.
The president’s proposals include bigger tax credits for child care and retirement savings; caps for student loan payments;
and boosting aid for families caring for elderly relatives.
The fate of a bill that would delay unemployment tax increases on businesses remains unclear in the Democrat-controlled Indiana
House.
Governor acknowledges the economy has been taking a toll on state government and the lives of many Indiana residents.
The Indiana Senate has given final approval to a proposal that would allow voters to decide whether property tax limits belong
in the state constitution.
Jealousy toward Indianapolis in the Statehouse shows no sign of letting up, one legislator says.
