INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mike Pence released no new details Friday on his priority to phase out a tax on business equipment and machinery, saying he wanted a broad debate in the upcoming Indiana General Assembly session.
So far, Pence has not shared how he envisions the state doing away with the tax, or identified a way to replace the $1 billion in revenue generated for local governments and schools from the tax on business personal property.
“I think executive leadership begins with casting a vision and deciding where I think we ought to go to strengthen the economy and improve educational outcomes in Indiana for this generation and the next,” Pence said. “We’ve proposed some ideas about what that looks like. We will continue to work through the legislative process.”
Pence acknowledged in a press conference on Friday that there has been opposition to phasing out the tax, but reiterated his stance that he will work to ensure local governments aren’t “unduly” burdened.
Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke wrote to Southwestern Indiana lawmakers this week that he’s opposed to phasing out the tax without a 100 percent replacement in the approximately $7 million in revenue the city receives from it.
Pence characterized phasing out the tax as “tax reform,” and not a cut. He said he’s garnered broad support for the idea, given the role manufacturing plays in Indiana’s economy.
“I want to acknowledge that making sure our communities have the resources by some other means over that timeframe is an extremely important part of this debate…What I want to resist doing is to put an idea out, put another idea out,” Pence said. “I want to give legislators the broadest possible range to develop how they think this might work best giving consideration to all the interest involved.”
Pence said he will make an upcoming speech outlining details of his economic priorities for the legislative session that begins Jan. 6, as he did earlier this week on education.
Headlining his education agenda is Pence’s push to create a pre-kindergarten voucher program for families earning up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level, which for a family of four is $43,567. Pence said he would like the legislature to design the program in 2014 and fund it during the next budget session in 2015.
“I recognize this is not a budget session, but there’s a number of examples in recent Indiana memory where we have designed programs in a non-budget session,” Pence said, “and then we have completed the budget decisions in the following budget session.”
Pence has declined to outline the cost of his educational priorities, which also includes a “Choices for Teachers” program that would protect teachers’ salaries for a certain length of time if they choose to move to a low-performing school or public charter school that serves a majority of disadvantaged students.