Indiana Poised to Shoot Self in Financial Foot (like California)

February 18, 2009 by  

I’m late to this issue, possibly because it involves numbers and formulas and financial language that make me want to run off and hide under an accountant’s desk. Or maybe it’s because of the words “Circuit Breaker,” which make me think of my furnace room and a colony of spiders. (No thanks. Someone else can tend to the Circuit Breaker!) Or maybe it’s because the idea of cutting (or capping) taxes and embedding the decision in the Indiana Constitution — even after California was kind enough to show us how the plan unfolds — seems so ludicrous that I’ve just been in denial.

Whatever the reason, up until now I have failed to focus on the fact that the Indiana General Assembly is moving rapidly toward passing legislation that will (as I mentioned) cap property taxes and carve those constraints into the state Constitution.

Are we to believe the legislature has discovered the perfect tax rate, a never-changing formula that makes sense every year, no matter the circumstances — come flood, or famine, or terrorist attack, or collapsing local industries?

Granted, things are not easy – especially here in Northern Indiana. Knowing that certain bills won’t rise could offer some measure of comfort; but the notion that my representatives are down in Indianapolis trying to help me by focusing on my property tax rate sort of makes me giggle (not really, but that sounds nicer).

My husband has run a successful business for thirteen years, a business with close ties to the construction industry. Needless to say, we are tightening our belts and holding our breath. What’s our biggest expense? Our health care premiums. We pay nearly ten thousand dollars a year just for the privilege of paying for all our medical expenses out-of-pocket. We have a catastrophic health plan and nothing more. Ten thousand dollars a year. Our property taxes? Roughly a thousand dollars a year.

This is not the year to squabble over a hundred dollars a month, much less to stamp it into the Constitution. This is the time for politicians to help shore up the safety nets and get ready to catch those of us who may fall.

Filed under: Politics
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Comments

2 Responses to “Indiana Poised to Shoot Self in Financial Foot (like California)”

  1. Kimber on February 18th, 2009 11:28 pm

    Here, here, Julia! I agree! And so well put!

    Health care is a MUCH bigger issue! And yes, it does not make sense to freeze taxes – disabling our ability to operate in changing conditions.

    Here, here!

    (And very funny too – numbers and spiders!)

  2. Joan on February 19th, 2009 3:40 pm

    Once again Julia has it right! Indiana politicians are not looking at the BIG picture. Most politicians seem to have trouble actually understanding that all people are NOT anti-TAXES.
    Someone has to pay for the services we need so desperately–water tested, bridges repaired, schools built and maintained…and the list goes on and on.
    TAX is not a four-letter word!

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