INDIANAPOLIS – Just because everyone agrees Indiana roads and bridges need a cash infusion doesn’t mean one of the possible solutions is popular – raising taxes.
A House Republican proposal relies on two tax “adjustments,” as House Speaker Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) calls it – and that is causing a rift in the GOP.
In the middle is a popular anti-tax pledge that 27 members of the House and Senate, including four local lawmakers, have taken. And an election. All 100 House members are up for election this year as is half the Senate.
“Do what’s right and let the politics shake out for itself. It’s not easy for a lot of folks. It’s easy to have a short-term, next-election viewpoint, and it’s my hope we can set that aside and look a decade down the line,” Bosma said.
“I think transportation needs for the crossroads of America needs to trump a no-tax philosophy. It just does.”
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Columbia City, said his opposition to the plan isn’t about his signing the pledge or his running for Congress. It’s just his ideology.
“As a conservative, I believe that government is bloated at all levels, and I oppose increasing taxes. That’s why the current road funding proposals are a nonstarter for me,” he said.
The Americans for Tax Reform pledge has been around for almost three decades. The state pledge promises taxpayers that an official “will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.”
Locally the four state legislators who took it are Banks, Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn; Rep. Dave Ober, R-Albion; and Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne.
Two parts of the House Republican road plan – found in House Bill 1001 – run counter to the pledge.