This Week In History
It almost got away from me but it four years ago this week history was made here in Indiana. I know you’re scratching your head right now trying to figure out exactly what it was, let me help. It was four years ago this past Monday that a small group of tax protesters went to the Governor’s residence at 46th and Meridian and protested their property tax bills which were going through the roof.
There were only about 20-30 of them, but they made enough noise and stayed organized that that protest led to hundreds of people showing up to dump their tax bills in the river and a thousand or show showed up on Monument Circle on a Sunday afternoon in August to protest. When you throw in the unique political climate of the year, the incumbent Mayor of Indianapolis was thrown out of office which in turned scared the bejesus out of the Indiana legislature which in turn led to property tax caps and an amendment this past year to the state Constitution.
Now we can argue whether the tax caps have been a good idea. I frankly think they have been and the whining and complaining by some local officials is indicative an inability to look for efficiencies and consolidate services. However, I think the bigger issue is the fact that a handful of people didn’t like how things were going and got organized and stayed the course and their actions led to a fundamental change and structure in their government. And it wasn’t 1776, it was 2007.
