7/10/2007
Media Contact:
Christina Cesnik
(317)327-4245 |
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Council President Monroe Gray Supports the Mayor and Offers Suggestions for Tax Relief to be Considered in a Special Session of the General Assembly
Indianapolis – President Gray announced that he echoes Mayor Peterson’s request for the Indiana General Assembly to call a special session to find solutions to ease the burden of property tax increases for the State’s homeowners.
He suggested that the General Assembly should search for long-term solutions to the property tax issues in Indiana, but during this special session they should, at minimum, consider the following:
The General Assembly should rescind the requirement that local governments send refund checks in 2008.
- The refund should be applied as a credit on the fall 2007 tax bills. This action would save hundreds of thousands of dollars in labor and postage for county governments across the state and eliminate any concerns over the federal tax status of the refund check.
The General Assembly should increase the homestead credit or property tax replacement credit by allocating any surplus gasoline tax revenue to one of those funds.
- The increasing price of gasoline has generated a substantial and unanticipated increase in gasoline sales tax revenue for the state over the past several months. That additional revenue could be applied immediately to ease the property tax burden.
The General Assembly should require the Department of Local Government finance to issue a report regarding property tax issues for local governments.
- The report should include a list of counties in compliance with trending for both residential and commercial properties and a list of counties that still need help getting into compliance. The report should also include a fiscal impact study of implementing a two percent cap on residential property taxes.
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