Tax caps rally fails to sway Indiana House speaker

By Patrick Guinane, Times of Northwest Indiana
patrick.guinane@nwi.com

INDIANAPOLIS | Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels rallied a Statehouse crowd Tuesday to pressure Democratic House Speaker Pat Bauer to cap off last year's property tax relief effort.

"We've got to finish the job," Daniels told the crowd of about 200. "There's one man who can make possible one vote that will protect Hoosier property tax payers forever. He's not hard to spot. He's a distinctive looking fellow. He looks a little Irish. He will listen to you, I believe it."

The rally represented the latest GOP ploy to pressure Bauer, a South Bend Democrat, to hold a House vote this spring to set up a November 2010 referendum allowing voters to cement new state property tax caps in the Indiana Constitution.

It didn't work.

"Approving the resolution this year will not move the referendum question up any faster," Bauer said after the rally. "If we wait until 2010 to act, we will have another year to determine the impact of the caps on schools and local units of government."

Legislative analysts currently predict that the revenue-stripping caps will sap $400 million from local government budgets next year, with cities, schools and other taxing unit in Lake County expected to take about a third of that hit.

The rally drew a few dozen members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, the road building crew the backed Daniels' 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road.

"If you're saving money on your taxes, you're going to have more money to spend," said John Sorensen, of Crown Point, a business agent for Local 150. "It means more money to us ... for construction projects."

Tax Caps Question

Senate Joint Resolution 1, which is identical to a measure approved last year, represents the second of three steps to write property tax caps into the Indiana Constitution, where they would be shielded from legal challenge.

If the Democratic-controlled House endorse the measure this year, voters would get the final say in a 2010 referendum. If not, the caps still could go on the 2010 ballot if the House and Republican-ruled Senate approve the resolution next year.

Starting next year the caps, which are in state law, will limit homeowner bills to 1 percent of assessed value, or $1,000 on a $100,000 home. The caps will be set a 2 percent of assessed for rental properties and 3 percent for businesses.