Dec
11
Post-Trib: No New Taxes!
Filed Under COIT, Income Tax, Lake County, Lake County Council, Northwest Indiana, good government, government waste, political machines, property tax crisis, tax revolt, taxes | Leave a Comment
From Sunday’s Post-Tribune editorial:
It’s time Lake County residents say no to more taxes until someone can ensure us we’re not getting robbed. We understand the need for an income tax to provide property tax relief, but we believe the real relief needs to come from reform of government — at the county level, for starters.
HT: BCRS.
Dec
7
Tax Solutions, Please
Filed Under COIT, Income Tax, Northwest Indiana, property tax crisis, tax revolt | 2 Comments
I’ve been reading various blogs trying to get a handle on Indiana’s current tax problem.
Buzzcut at Blue County in a Red State always has an opinion on the tax issue and the root causes and recently asks if state subsidizes are to blame for the seemingly unstoppable tax increases.
Doug at Masson’s Blog suggests that most of the pain has been caused by the state balancing its budget by sending unfunded mandates to the county and local levels.
Of the 24% average increase in property taxes, only 6% is attributable to local government spending. The remaining 18% was caused by a shift in the tax burden from state to local (the state balanced its budget on the backs of local government) and from business to residential property.
Now that we know the root causes — or at least have some theories to discuss — how should we fix Indiana’s tax crisis?
My suggestion — do what seems easy on paper — root out waste and corruption. In real life, I know this will be difficult. But, it is the first step toward getting our government spending under control.
Second suggestion — don’t pass a Lake County income tax.
Resisting the urge to create a new Lake County income tax is important since the state is trying to force the new tax burden on Lake County under the threat of budget cuts.
If we cave in and pass an income tax, the easy state solution to all of Lake County’s difficulties will be to force the county to continually raise the income tax. Sooner or later, we’ll end up with a 5% Lake County income tax when state money is tight or the legislators downstate need to balance the state budget.
If the state can force us to raise a new tax once, they will force us to increase the percentage taxed in the future.
Ideas one and two are the simple parts: cut out waste / corruption and cut back on spending.
Now comes the hard part.
Once we’ve cut back and resisted the urge to raise new taxes, how do we best tackle our governments’ insatiable hunger for tax money without sacrificing essential services and without bankrupting the common citizen who is already overburdened with property taxes and other financial obligations?
Let the debate begin.
Dec
7
Taxes Rise In Most Lake Cities
Filed Under Lake County, Northwest Indiana, property tax crisis | Leave a Comment
Taxes are rising everywhere in Lake County, except for Hammond, Winfield, and Schererville, reports Susan Brown of the Northwest Indiana Times.
The city of Hammond showed a 4 percent reduction in its tax levy, followed by Winfield at 3.8 percent and Schererville at 2.9 percent.
At the other end of the spectrum, the town of Dyer showed a rise of 23.9 percent.
Observes Buzzcut at Blue County in a Red State:
Only 3 out of 80 municipalities in Lake County cut their levy this year.
Most of the money spent on local government taxes in Lake County goes to operating expenses (77%), debt (16%), and capital (7%), according the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. In 2007, as well as 2006, residential property owners paid 64.2% of the taxes. Commercial interests paid 20.1% in 2007 and 19.5% in 2006.
The DLGF report shows that Lake County’s spending has grown by 55.3% since 1998 while inflation has only risen 24.7% since that time.
