An e-mail from the Indiana Senate Majority Caucus:
Seniors, Young Homeowners Likely Supporters of Popular Tax Cap Measure, Say Senate Authors
Statewide WISH-TV poll shows 65 percent of Hoosiers want property tax limits permanent, added to state constitution
(INDIANAPOLIS – October 30, 2010) – Senior citizens and young homeowners are likely among the growing number of Hoosier voters who support adding Indiana’s property tax caps to the state constitution, say the ballot measure’s co-authors.
State Sens. Brandt Hershman (R-Lafayette) and Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) said a recent statewide poll conducted by WISH-TV found 65 percent of likely voters support making the caps permanent with 25 percent opposed.
According to the Indianapolis-based CBS affiliate, that was a 3-percent increase in favor of the amendment from a survey conducted just three weeks ago.
“Hoosiers voting in Tuesday’s General Election have an historic opportunity to make Indiana’s tax system more modern and more fair,” said Hershman, chair of the Senate Committee on Tax and Fiscal Policy. “Ballot Question 1, which follows selections for federal, state and local offices, asks if voters support or oppose protecting Indiana’s property tax caps by adding them to our state constitution – away from whims of free-spending politicians and special interests.”
Kenley, who chairs the Senate Committee on Appropriations and authored the original tax cap legislation and constitutional amendment, agreed.
“Property taxes are an antiquated way local government has been funded since the Civil War, when agricultural property equated to personal income. Today, property ownership has less to do with a taxpayer’s income or ability to pay. It is unfair seniors are taxed on unrealized appreciation and young homeowners are taxed on the full value of assets in which they have little to no equity. Seniors and young families should make certain they go to the polls and vote on Question 1.”
Indiana’s caps – passed into law by wide, bipartisan legislative majorities in 2008 and 2010 – limit property taxes on homes at 1 percent of the assessed value, on farmland and rental property at 2 percent and on other businesses at 3 percent. To be added to the state constitution, a measure must be passed by two separately elected sessions of the Indiana General Assembly and approved by voters.
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