Taking the bulk of welfare costs off the local property tax rolls will help offset the impact of reassessment. Hoosier taxpayers deserve this tax cut, too. But cutting taxes is not enough. Because some legislators failed to act last spring, local assessors and the State Tax Board have less than two years to do the work that normally takes more than four years to complete. Assessors are crying out for more time, tools and training to conduct a fair, timely and accurate reassessment.
Taxpayers also deserve more time to develop proposals for the tax board to consider.
We should listen to them and delay the 2001 reassessment for two years. And it s not only the assessors who need more tools. My plan also would enable any county with a county option or county adjusted gross income tax to dedicate any or all of those revenues toward property tax relief, and any county with riverboat revenues to use those funds for property tax relief. Reassessment will be the single most important issue for Hoosier homeowners, businesses and farmers in the upcoming legislative session. I gave this plan to our lawmakers a month early so they will have the time to consider it before they come back on January 10.