Loading ...SOME WILL WIN, SOME WILL LOSE, SOME ARE BORN TO SING THE BLUES
Okay, okay, enough with the Journey references already! But I couldn’t help myself. Let’s face it, it’s not everyday you get your hands around the biggest property tax reform package in darn near 50 years. So while my last post was who gets the credit, with this post we do another survey, who wins and who loses under this plan, politically speaking. Here is my list…
Winners (At Least for Now Anyway)
Governor Mitch Daniels - It was his plan. He got the Legislature to go along with most of it. His re-election effort just go a lot easier.
Sen. Luke Kenley - If Daniels was the architect, Kenley was the builder. That guy is brilliant.
House Speaker Pat Bauer - The Speaker is nothing if not one of the smartest politicos I have ever met in this state. He saw what was coming and made sure his members would be safe. By the way, sources close to the House Democrat leadership team say they knew they were going to vote for the proposal days before it passed, knowing there was no way this session could go by without real tax reform.
Senate Pro Temp David Long & House Republican Leader Brian Bosma - Not bad guys. And a little 11th hour posturing with a joint news conference didn’t hurt either. But you know what, it worked. Don’t hate the players folks, hate the game.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard - With the state assuming the burden of a number of levies (including the pre-1977 police pensions that his critics called him an idiot for asking for even though they now says it’s a good thing for all of Indiana) the city will save an estimated $65 million. That seems pretty darn close to the $70 million the Mayor promised to cut. See, timing is everything in politics.
Anyone running for re-election - Any lawmaker who is running for re-election and who voted for this reform plan is basically a shoe-in. If you know the perfect campaign counter strategy, let me know.
Losers (Or better luck next year)
Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Jim Schellinger - Schellinger is a smart guy, but to put out a news release to say the state needs to wait until next year for tax reform is the equivalent of handing Daniels a victory on a silver platter with a square plate and garnish on the side.
Democratic Gubernatorial Candidate Jill Long Thompson - By passing tax reform, lawmakers took this issue away from the Democratic candidate and so now she’s going to have to find something else to run on. By they way, Speaker Bauer told us Friday he would have no problem pointing out errors in the criticism of the plan by either Thompson or Schellinger.
State Sen. Mike Delph - Delph tried to push an illegal immigration plan through that had more constitutional issues than the play 1776. And then the fight got personal towards the end and from what I hear almost came to blows in a Senate caucus. My suggestion, pass a law that says if the federal government finds an employer has hired illegal immigrants, then the state can step in and take the business’ license away. You’ll find you avoid a lot more grief that way.
SJR-7 Supporters - Like I tell my friends who are Chicago Cub fans, sorry guys, this wasn’t your year. Better luck next season when voters aren’t as concerned about losing their homes as opposed to who’s living next door to them.
Indiana Sheriffs - Now that lawmakers have made their pay equal to that of the County Prosecutors’ they can no longer make as much, or more, than the President of the United States.
Indiana Township Assessors -It’s been real and it’s been fun. Next time it will be real fun. Although they may be all out of a job soon, they may still get the last laugh out the door when the final reassessment numbers come back. That issue ain’t over by a longshot.
Kernan-Shepard Commission Supporters - Wait ’til next year.
Singing the Blues
Local governments - They’ve argued they’re going to lose a ton of money under this plan with the property tax caps, however they forget to mention the local option income tax which can be used to replace that revenue and the state is picking up levies that they have been clamoring for for years. So we’ll see.
Radio Talk Show Hosts, Pundits and Bloggers - Our livelihoods are centered around controversy and now the biggest issue of the last 25 years has been taken off the table in a bi-partisan fashion. Oh well, another issue will pop up soon because as the song goes, “the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on.”
March 16th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Loser - residents of Indiana. No cost government cost savings was ever met. The only reductions was property taxes for school district which will mean fewer teachers, busing, slowly decaying school buildings, and cutbacks on curriculm and extra curricular activities such as the arts and languages. And don’t forget the elimnation of the assessors. I will be closely watching my property tax assessment due to the fact that it is based on a “fair market value” just like it always has been. Oh and don’t forget the homestead credit is gone and in its place, CAPS. The Meridian Street Madness got us nothing. Wait
March 16th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Abdul,
I’m pretty sure both gubernatorial candidates urged lawmakers to provide immediate relief but wait until next year to deal with long-term tax reform.
The Guv’s constitutional caps will be a nightmare down the road, but he doesn’t care. He’s just happy to have raised taxes and given himself a set of talking points that don’t make him look as woefully out of touch as his economic development ones do.
March 16th, 2008 at 11:48 am
We should have them change the lyrics of “Cool, Considerate Men” from 1776 to say “ever to the left..never to the right” and it would be right on target.
March 16th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Seriously, talk to someone. The state picking up the pension does NOT fix his problem.
Also, you failed to mention the $111,639,159, Indianapolis will lose. That’s 10% of the budget.
You’re right, he may seem like a winner now, but the chickens are coming home to roost very soon.
March 16th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Truth: This is another tax increase to pay for a “tax cut.”
Truth: The public never believes that the tax is getting cut.
Truth: Anyone who voted for this voted for a tax increase. This will be used by both Demo gov candidates. Oh, and it works. Everyone in the world knew that Bart Peterson rasied taxes for good, sound reasons. Didn’t matter- Exhibit A: Greg Ballard.
Prediction: Local governments WILL have to cut back. It’s already happening in Indy. Seen our potholes?
Prediction: This ain’t over.
March 16th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
PIR,
Since I was at the legislature covering this let me try to explain this again.
The city of Indianapolis is not losing $111 million. The 67 taxing units in Marion County are.
With the state picking a number of levies (police pension, child welfare, health care for the poor) the Mayor can cut the city-county budget by $65 million. Maybe if the former people running this place were more cooperative with the Legislature, they could have gotten all this.
And don’t forget the local option income tax which can provide even more property tax relief. I personally would prefer a sales tax, but at least this way, everyone who uses the services (police, fire, roads, sewer) will pay for them, not just homeowners. And also, more than 91 percent of the homes in Marion County are assessed above one percent.
I’ll take the homeowner and taxpayer over the government any day. Unless you want to be in the position of defending the government against the taxpayer? It’s all yours.
March 16th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
The real winners just my be those in the legislature who did not act like obstructionist as-hol–. I think November’s voters will still take a hard look at all of these people. They will provide that “change” that Obama has been talking about.
March 16th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Abdul, don’t be so quick to write the epitaph for talkshow hosts, bloggers, and activists. The ink isn’t even dry yet and you are singing the blues? Not to worry. Preliminary indications are that we’re getting some necessary governmental streamlining, but also a bill taxing homeowners, farms, and businesses that will permanently enslave them to caps which our lawmakers wish enshrined into the constitution. It is bad law and will never pass a contitutional challenge; not to mention the bill’s swiss cheese language that has so many loopholes that it will sink under it’s own weight. Once the euphoria, including the Star’s endorsement, wears away, and citizens see it for what it really is (not to mention special interest groups who see inherent and selective discrimination and the cherry picking of 2 counties exempt from identical caps), you will have plenty to talk about.
Lawmakers are not qualified to guard their own henhouse and passing a modified Governor’s proposal is simply a quicker way to jumpstart their campaign in this election year via touting a ’something’ that approximates relief, hoping citizens will never look at the fine print. Stay tuned
March 16th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Senator Delph Disciplined
March 11, 2008 – 3:48 pm
State Senator and Army Reserve Captain Mike Delph has been disciplined for his role in a February news conference related to the immigration bill where Colonel Ray Mejia appeared in uniform in violation of Army regulations.
What that discipline amounts to, the Army won’t say. This is a message from Captain Adam Jackson:
“The Department of the Army… prohibits us from releasing information in personnel and medical files, as well as similar personal information in other files, that, if disclosed to the requester would result in a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”
Something is fishy.
Seems strange they go to news black out considering that kid that wore his uniform to a gay marriage bill meeting was demoted and the military was quoted in the paper about it.
http://www.wishtv.com/Global/link.asp?L=275650
March 16th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
” If you know the perfect campaign counter strategy, let me know.”
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Abdul, I guess if I were running against an incumbent who voted for the reform package I would have to ask that person, “where were you in 2003 when the first big property tax hit came, and why did it take this long to figure out that something needed to be done.”
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REMEMBER NOVEMBER
March 16th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I do, ever so hope, that you mean “winners” in the ironic sense?
March 16th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Careful…the Cubs are going to win it all this year.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Abdul, I would say that the perfect counter strategy is found in your “Losers” category.
While this is a start, I, for one, can not bring myself to vote for any of our legislators who did not support the Kernan recommendations *in full*. Long-term significant property tax reform is tied to the size of government as well as the schools’ overspending.
And if I understand this correctly (please correct where needed), if the Kernan recommendations had been passed *in full*, there would be no need for the sales tax increase (which takes full effect long before my property tax relief does). If the politicians were as smart as you feel they are, they would have gotten property tax relief completely in place prior to the November elections. While I disagree with you here, thank you for all the great work you do, both here and on the air.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:29 am
Additionally, this process took far too long to occur. If the GA would have been practicing government and not politics, this could have been completed in 3-4 weeks, and the GA would have had time to consider other legislation and actually be seen as productive (gasp!). Instead, Bauer tried to change the whole format to an income tax with just a couple weeks left in the session, and Bosma just had to try and tack on the gay marriage amendment. I consider both of them to be losers in this, as they both needlessly delayed the process, and looked amateurish in doing so.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:19 am
The bills should start arriving in a month or so. Many will see their mortgage escrow payments go up which means less money circulating in the economy, less money for home maintenance, and less money for necessities like food and medicine for Hoosiers, many of whom are already stretched thin to the breaking point.
March 17th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Ballard doesn’t get off that easy. There was no fluff in the pension funds. He needs to still cut $60 - $70 million, on top of the pension relief.
And by the way, it will provide $35 - $40 million relief, not $60 - $65 million like you stated. The state was already picking up half the pension cost.
March 17th, 2008 at 11:13 am
IB,
That $65 million is a combined levy savings (police pensions, child welfare, juvey incarceration, health care for the poor).
March 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Now, the media can concentrate on crime and potholes, both highly important.
March 17th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Abbie, You stated that Abdul-Hakim
March 17th, 2008 at 11:13 am
IB,
“That $65 million is a combined levy savings (police pensions, child welfare, juvey incarceration, health care for the poor)”.
And they SHOULD pick up this funding. These are state mandated programs/functions (or at the very least created/devised by the state. Each one. So why shouldn’t the State pay it? The GA did not do themselves a favor (or the taxpayers for that matter) by “agreeing” to pay this. They should have to begin with. What part of this is difficult to understand. Ballard did not save us anything. Wait, just wait till you get your tax bill in 4-6 yrs or better yet when the GA has to pass a new budget and there is no money. Funny thing about the sales tax, if your in a recession, you curtail your spending habits which directly impacts your sales tax revenue. Thank you NOT. I will go to Ohio or adjoining state to make my large purchases with a lower tax rate. Oh boy this is going to get good.
Now this is what I would like to see from you Almighty Abbie. Track the tax spending and taxes generated per capita by county by township. That would be interesting. I dare ya.
March 18th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
[...] been perceived as coming out of the General Assembly session as winners by pundits ranging from Abdul to Jim [...]