Times of Northwest Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS | The House Ways and Means Committee voted 16-7 this afternoon for a property tax relief plan that would shift welfare costs to the state while allowing counties to impose a new tax on individual and corporate income.
House Bill 1007, authored by state Rep. Bob Kuzman, D-Crown Point, advanced largely along partisan lines, after the Democrat-led committee shot down a dozen amendments offered by Republicans.
The plan would allow counties to levy an income tax of up to 1 percent, provided they use at least 60 percent of the money to reduce property taxes. The remaining funds could be spent on police, fire and other public safety needs
Republicans complained that the plan would give local government too much new money to spend. They also characterized the legislation as a "big city bill" that would benefit the likes of Indianapolis as the expense of rural Indiana.
The proposal includes a so-called commuter tax, which, on a per-capita basis, would have 25 percent of a county's individual income tax follow residents who work in another county. Lake County is expected to benefit greatly from that provision, along with Marion County, which is home to Indianapolis.
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