Hoosiers make last-ditch appeal before budget conference committee on Indiana House Bill 1001

A Monday budget conference committee revealed little new information about ongoing negotiations between Republican caucuses, though a bicameral, bipartisan group heard roughly half an hour of public testimony. 

Sen. Ryan Mishler, the chief budget architect for Senate Republicans, squashed any requests for increased funding prior to public input, saying the grim Wednesday budget forecast that projected $2 billion less in spending “speaks for itself.”

“We have some tough decisions to make,” said the Mishawaka Republican. “Please don’t ask for more because the question at this point will be, ‘Who do you want us to take it from?’”

Aside from that early remark, Republicans largely took a back seat for the rest of the hour-long meeting — neither offering comment nor asking many questions. 

Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, condemned the GOP members for not commenting on private negotiations during Monday’s meeting. As both chambers have a Republican supermajority, Democrats are often excluded from such discussions. 

“I was extremely disappointed today that would have been — or should have been — a public process to discuss the budget publicly and the solutions … did not occur. We are a public institution serving 6.9 million Hoosiers across the state and the budget process should have been much more transparent,” said Qaddoura. 

Rep. Greg Porter, also a Democrat from Indianapolis, likened it to being given a seat at the “kids table.”

“We know they had a lot of conversations this past weekend. So we have had conversations also and we have brought a solution to our situation,” Porter said, pointing to increases on so-called sin taxes and reducing school choice voucher spending.

In a comment to reporters, Rep. Jeff Thompson (R-Lizton) — who leads budget negotiations for House Republicans — said that Monday’s meeting was the last opportunity for public comment.

To raise or to cut Indiana’s taxes?

A smattering of public advocates took the opportunity to make a last-minute appeal before lawmakers, including 16-year-old central Indiana Girl Scout Vera McConnell. 

McConnell, who has appeared before budget writers before during this session, made repealing the state sales tax on menstrual products — also known as the Pink Tax — the goal of her Gold Award, one of Girls Scouts’ highest honors. 

“Women and girls have paid the pink tax, through both good and bad economic times, and it’s no longer a fiscal issue. Rather, it’s a fairness issue,” McConnell said Monday. “We should not profit from the necessary bodily functions of people. The time is now.”

The average woman will spend roughly $18,000 over her lifetime on feminine hygiene products like pads and tampons — which are taxed as luxuries and not as a medical necessity. These dollars contribute $5.6 million in sales taxes to state coffers, or 0.01% of the budget. 

House Republicans struck the tax in their version of the budget but Senate Republicans reversed course — much to the chagrin of their Democratic counterparts, who tried to amend it back into the budget last week but failed on a largely party-line vote. 

McConnell’s effort will have a difficult time getting over the finish line following last week’s budget forecast. Other testimony used that news to try to push forward a long-sought tax increase on cigarettes. 

According to the American Lung Association, only a dozen states tax cigarettes at a lower rate than Indiana, which has the lowest tax of its surrounding states at $0.995 per pack. That is nearly half the national rate of $1.93. 

Tiffany Nichols, the Indiana director of advocacy for the American Lung Association, pushed for a $2 increase, which could bring in an estimated $800 million in tax revenue. However, that number doesn’t include smokeless tobacco products, cigars or vapes — all of which are taxed at a lower rate.

Nichols urged lawmakers to bring taxes for those in line with cigarette cartons.

“We know from decades of research that increasing tobacco taxes is one of the most effective ways to reduce use,” said Nichols. “We must close this loophole. Creating barriers across all tobacco products ensures a consistent public health message: all tobacco products are harmful.”

Increasing such a tax would, ideally, only generate a temporary bump in revenues as tobacco use goes down. However, reducing Hoosier tobacco use would lower the state’s overall health costs — especially for Medicaid, which is the fastest-growing line item. 

The House has passed such an increase a handful of times but never gotten the Senate onboard. Previously, legislative leaders said all options are on the table with the exception of marijuana legalization and an expansion of gaming taxes. 

Raising so-called sin taxes — which can include alcohol in addition to cigarettes and gaming — was at the heart of Democrat suggestions for addressing the $2 billion budget shortfall. 

“We don’t seem to want to tax sin in the way we used to,” lamented Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis.