EDITORIAL: Moving beyond property taxes

(Fort Wayne) Journal Gazette

Sunday, July 29, 2007 5:45 AM

Indiana tax facts

• The state's overall state and local tax burden falls slightly below the national average, representing 10.7 percent of income.

• Indiana's business tax climate is ranked as the 12th best in the nation.

• Indiana's individual income tax rate of a flat 3.4 percent ranks third-lowest among states levying an individual income tax.

• The state's general sales tax rate of 6 percent is higher than the national median.

• Indiana's gasoline tax is the 12th lowest in the nation.

Source: Tax Foundation

The Journal Gazette

Indiana Farm Bureau has been a persistent but often lonely voice in its campaign to abolish property taxes. These days, it has plenty of allies among unhappy Hoosier taxpayers. Property owners have figured out that short-term fixes have only weakened an ailing system, and many are eager to jettison the whole mess.

But abolishing property taxes would be akin to trading a bandage for amputation. It's not the elimination of property taxes that must be done - it's rethinking government and how to pay for it in the most effective and equitable manner. The group now best positioned to do it is Gov. Mitch Daniels' Blue Ribbon Commission on Local Government Reform.