Hoosiers completed their property tax revolution Tuesday, voting by nearly a 3-to-1 margin to write a set of tax caps into Indiana's constitution.
Seventy-one percent of Indiana residents registered a "Yes" vote to Public Question No. 1, according to unofficial results reported by the Secretary of State at press time.
The referendum was passing with 75 percent of the vote in Lake County and 76 percent in Porter County.
Its passage shouldn't prompt property owners to look for changes on their tax bills, though. Indiana's 1-2-3 tax caps are already law and in full effect. Tuesday's referendum simply makes them constitutional.
That means they're now going to be particularly difficult to change. Doing so would require another voter referendum, and it would take years just to put the issue back on the ballot.
Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said Indiana was headed in a "very, very bad direction" without the caps. He said the cost of government shouldn't fall to homeowners, especially in today's economy. "That is not the place to go in time of crisis," Soliday said.
Indiana's General Assembly passed the caps in 2008 after an angry public demanded relief from tax bills.
The caps limit tax bills to 1 percent of a property's assessed value for homeowners, 2 percent for landlords and farmers, and 3 percent for commercial land. They save taxpayers money, but cut off revenue for local governments.
Opponents wanted to take more time to study the caps' effects, as this is the first year they've been fully enforced. Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said taxpayers should watch for local governments to levy new taxes to make up for the lost revenue. "They will have no choice," Brown said.
There is a Lake County exception to the caps, which wasn't mentioned on Tuesday's ballot. Debt service, or loans taken out by governmental units, that existed before July 1, 2008, is exempt in Lake and St. Joseph counties.
Few people expected the tax cap referendum to fail. Still, its passage could be a significant moment for Northwest Indiana's largest city.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay convinced a state appeals board his city could not survive under the caps in 2009 and 2010. The board agreed to raise them exclusively for that city's property owners. The appeals board can't raise caps that are constitutional, though, so Gary will be eligible for just one more year of aid.