Indiana Property Tax Cap Amendment

[indykid]

We already have a county income tax, and the state has their income tax, and the state has their sales tax.

There is no excuse for not being able to own my own land. There is no excuse for me having to rent my property from who ever it is that takes my money in exchange for allowing me to stay in my home.

The problem with the property tax amendment is it guarantees the crooks the right to take our money in exchange for letting us stay on our land.

Unfortunately it is a double edge sword. Agree with it and your home tax gets capped, your farm tax capped and business tax capped. But is it right to still have to rent from the state?

Disagree with it as a way to say you are against taxing your property, and the clowns in government will take that to mean you are willing to pay more. They won't hear that we would like to actually own the property that we paid for.

I do remember shutting down Indianapolis when the property rent skyrocketed not too long ago. Maybe we need to do that again.

This vote is a tough one, because it guarantees, one way or another, that we will never own our property.

And what about someone 80 years old in a nice home that they worked all their lives for? Why must they pay any property tax. Any money for police, fire, and maybe even the library should come out of the county tax that they still pay on their retirement income.

 

[88GT]

This vote is a tough one, because it guarantees, one way or another, that we will never own our property.

With all due respect, it wasn't going away anyway. For the same reason none of the entitlement programs are going away. Once someone gets his fingers in the cookie jar of another person's wallet and has the backing of the highest authority in the land, he won't stop.

 

[eatsnopaste]

The only thing I like about this amendment is that instead of passing an increase every so often that we don't necessarily feel (if we are paying a mortgage) but they will have to discuss and vote and have it passed by several local boards before additional taxes are raised to meet the (additional) expenses. Hopefully this will make the taxing units more accountable to "we the people."

 

[jbombelli]

if I dont see it on INGO chances are I dont hear about it

+1. There are other news sources?




You know how a politician comes to the conclusion that he's doing the right thing? Nobody likes it.

 

[Frankingun]

+1. There are other news sources?




You know how a politician comes to the conclusion that he's doing the right thing? Nobody likes it.

I heard that people used to get their news printed on paper and delivered to their home early in the morning.

 

[UncleMike]

For those of you too young to remember.
The State Sales Tax was supposed to replace the Property Tax.
At least thats what the Democratic Governor Matt Welsh told us when the Constitutional Amendment came up in 1962.

 

[ATOMonkey]

We already have a county income tax, and the state has their income tax, and the state has their sales tax.

There is no excuse for not being able to own my own land. There is no excuse for me having to rent my property from who ever it is that takes my money in exchange for allowing me to stay in my home.

The problem with the property tax amendment is it guarantees the crooks the right to take our money in exchange for letting us stay on our land.

Unfortunately it is a double edge sword. Agree with it and your home tax gets capped, your farm tax capped and business tax capped. But is it right to still have to rent from the state?

Disagree with it as a way to say you are against taxing your property, and the clowns in government will take that to mean you are willing to pay more. They won't hear that we would like to actually own the property that we paid for.

I do remember shutting down Indianapolis when the property rent skyrocketed not too long ago. Maybe we need to do that again.

This vote is a tough one, because it guarantees, one way or another, that we will never own our property.

And what about someone 80 years old in a nice home that they worked all their lives for? Why must they pay any property tax. Any money for police, fire, and maybe even the library should come out of the county tax that they still pay on their retirement income.

I agree with all of this except for the bold part.

They already are guaranteed the "right" to take our money in exchange for us being allowed to live on our land. In fact, they have the "right" to take our money if we own ANYTHING.

What the vote does guarantee is that we'll never pay more than 1% of the assessed value, until we repeal it all together some day. There is nothing that says once we pass this amendment that it will be impossible to pass another amendment later. It's not like common law where a precedent establishes the interpretation of law.

This is how the constitution currently reads:

Article 10 section 1. Property assessment and taxation.

(a) The General Assembly shall provide, by law, for a uniform and equal rate of property assessment and taxation and shall prescribe regulations to secure a just valuation for taxation of all property, both real and personal. The General Assembly may exempt from property taxation any property in any of the following classes:

(1) Property being used for municipal, educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes;
(2) Tangible personal property other than property being held for sale in the ordinary course of a trade or business, property being held, used or consumed in connection with the production of income, or property being held as an investment;
(3) Intangible personal property

(b) The General Assembly may exempt any motor vehicles, mobile homes, airplanes, boats, trailers or similar property, provided that an excise tax in lieu of the property tax is substituted therefor.

(History: As Amended November 8, 1966)

 

[ATOMonkey]

For those of you too young to remember.
The State Sales Tax was supposed to replace the Property Tax.
At least thats what the Democratic Governor Matt Welsh told us when the Constitutional Amendment came up in 1962.

Which is why I'm against the Federal "transaction tax" that was being proposed as they "promised" to eliminate income tax. Without an amendment to repeal the 16th amendment, I will not support a new tax on the basis of a "promise" from a politician.

If they repeal the 16th amendment first, then I'll consider allowing them to tax financial transactions. Not the other way around.

Anyway, back to the property tax thread.

 

[Indy317]

Con#2 - It may be 1%, but the State still gets to set the assessed value, and they can still add on all kinds of levies for schools and such.

The state doesn't set the assessed value, unless maybe in some rare cases. Most homes are assessed by either a county wide elected assessor, or a township elected assessor. This is the devil in the details...watch your assessment. I plan on fighting mine in a year or so if they don't knock it down. While I paid $7,000 more than my current assessment, that was five years ago, and home prices have went down. What you really need to start doing now is collecting data for your appeal. When you see homes in your area for sale, that are similar to your home in age, construction type, size, etc., you need to document that. Grab the flyers or print off the MLS sheets on-line. If the home sells, print off information from your local assessor's website (if on-line). Fight the assessment as far as you can, and if it is way off (say $100K like in some areas), seriously consider a lawsuit.

Also, they state can't add on levies for schools and such. A few taxing entities, schools are one, can have voter referendums that will allow a tax that can exceed the caps. The voters have the say, and there are two major votes in Hancock County (Mt. Vernon and New Palestine) this year.

 

[EvilElmo]

If you're just hearing about this for the first time, you either:

1. Don't own property
2. Don't watch local news
3. Don't read newpapers of any kind
4. Haven't recieved a gigantic tax increase.

or
5. Live close to Cincinnati and therefor hear virtually nothing about Indiana in the news.

 

[Bigum1969]

All of the constitutional issues aside... I like the idea of limiting taxes. And this would do it.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

The next thing we need to do is start paying attention to our local school boards (hear that Morgan? Pay attention!) even if we don't have kids in the schools. We need to stop believing sob stories about how we aren't funding "education" sufficiently and start electing school board members who will actively work to rein in school spending. In our Township, schools account for 51% of our property tax bill. Our fire department, in contrast, gets 7%.

 

[eldirector]

Amen, Blackhawk! I intend to start attending School Board meetings this next year. I have a feeling they will be pretty dull, but I'd rather be informed and have a chance to speak up if I need to.

 

[Bill of Rights]

Property taxes are already in the constitution.

One of the oppositions is that the constitution says all property tax shall be uniform and equal.

Obviously, the 1, 2, 3 scale is not uniform and equal.

I'll be voting yes on this measure.

Next step is getting rid of them all together.

Great info here. Rep added. I didn't recall that being in there. I agree with you about the next step, too.

Just remember that it's not a 1% freeze. That only applies to homeowners. Farmers and businesses will be taxed at 2 & 3%. Not fair at all that they should have to bear the brunt of this. Personally, I'm torn on it. I like the idea of freezing the taxes, but it enshrines property taxes in the state Constitution and will make them impossible to get rid of, (which is what I truly favour).

If you noted this, I missed it, but they're already there, as ATOMonkey explained. I was going to vote no on this. Now I will vote to pass it.

Indiana - Ballotpedia

A pretty comprehensive list here. Only 1 State item. Others vary by county.

Happy voting!

Repped.

I love this board.

Blessings,
Bill

 

[DocBoCook]

This goes forward, public schools are through. They can't fund them now. They need to find a way to fund schools before they pass this

 

[eldirector]

This goes forward, public schools are through. They can't fund them now. They need to find a way to fund schools before they pass this

Just a question here. Why are we even for government schools? It seems like a large number of us INGO-ers are against welfare programs, but when public schools come up, we are suddenly wanting to fund them.

I would happily pay to send my daughter to school. Heck, as it is, I may be paying twice (taxes and tuition), depending on what is best for her.

I want to give her the best chances in life, but forcing with a threat of violence to pay for sub-par education just doesn't seem right.

I really don't see a problem with de-funding "schools", and forcing them to concentrate the fundamentals of education. Sports, clubs, and other activities are not essential.

 

[88GT]

The state doesn't set the assessed value, unless maybe in some rare cases. Most homes are assessed by either a county wide elected assessor, or a township elected assessor. This is the devil in the details...watch your assessment. I plan on fighting mine in a year or so if they don't knock it down. While I paid $7,000 more than my current assessment, that was five years ago, and home prices have went down. What you really need to start doing now is collecting data for your appeal. When you see homes in your area for sale, that are similar to your home in age, construction type, size, etc., you need to document that. Grab the flyers or print off the MLS sheets on-line. If the home sells, print off information from your local assessor's website (if on-line). Fight the assessment as far as you can, and if it is way off (say $100K like in some areas), seriously consider a lawsuit.

You can also hit up a Realtor for sales data and assessed values in your neighborhood. We've got that info at our fingertips and can probably find it more quickly. (And for free!) I know the Marion County search system is tedious and in many instances requires payment for anything beyond owner of record. And you have to search for one parcel at a time.

On a side note: while assessments may change, total tax liability cannot...up to the cap anyway.

Your total tax liability is determine through the following mathematical formula:

net assessed value X tax rate = tax liability.

The local taxing entity determines the tax rate by back-calculating based on the sum total of assessed values and their desired total budget. The tax rate is then applied individually to each parcel.

(We ought to pick a tax rate and limit our budget accordingly, but that will never happen either.)

So the taxing gurus can manipulate the tax rate and assessed values all they want, but they can't change the relative total tax liability beyond its threshold cap.

But it is imperative to check your tax statements regularly. And if you haven't done so already, check your property card (or whatever your local taxing entity calls it). Check it for accuracy and be sure to report any errors that work against you. (Obviously, if they've got you on a crawl, don't blab you're actually on a basement!) Do they have the right number of bathrooms, bedrooms, square footage? Are they dinging your for a pool that doesn't exist anymore (pretty common error actually)? Privacy fences, out buildings, etc.

 

[88GT]

This goes forward, public schools are through. They can't fund them now. They need to find a way to fund schools before they pass this

They already have. The way I understand it, there was a piece of legislation that already made the caps a reality, but in order to get it passed, there was a compromise of a time limit to get some of the Dems on board. This is why we have to put it in the Constitution to make it permanent.

For that piece of legislation to pass, solutions to the school funding problem that it created had to be found. They were. I don't know the exact details, but, as somebody mentioned above, to a large extent, the state now funds a good portion of what property taxes used to pay for.

Which is part of the reasons so many school funding referendums have been cropping up these last few election cycles.

 

[eldirector]

I went through that whole mess over the last couple of years, 88GT. First, they screw up the "value", and it took a year to get that fixed (and my money back). Then they changed my square footage, and I had to bring them measurements to get that changed (and my bill fixed). Now they think my shed is on a foundation (same shed that has been on blocks for a decade or more).

I swear they are TRYING to screw me. Fortunately, I pay my own taxes, rather than a mortgage company, so see the bill immediately. I've also started to check my online assessment a month or so before they should be mailed (like they are ever on time anyway).

Too bad our assessor is running un-opposed this election! Otherwise, I'd give her the boot.

 

[88GT]

Too bad our assessor is running un-opposed this election! Otherwise, I'd give her the boot.

You should have done so by running against her!