Governor to propose property tax solution

Farm Bureau has a property tax restructuring plan. So does the Indiana Association of Realtors. So does conservative activist and lobbyist Eric Miller. So do some individual legislators.\nGov. Mitch Daniels hopes to present his own proposal by the end of the month. And a legislative panel has examined just about every aspect of the current system, discussed a specific scenario for changing it and hopes to have an overhaul proposal drafted in November.\nOther plans could be piled on the table by the time lawmakers begin their session in earnest in early January.\nWith so many ideas on a very complex subject, will Daniels and a divided General Assembly be able to find consensus on a plan that can be enacted into law?\nIt’s a question that Senate Tax Chairman Luke Kenley, who also is chairing the bipartisan interim commission on property taxes, has thought about.\n“You can get to the point where you get to overload with respect to information, but I think there is some distilling going on,” said Kenley, a Noblesville Republican who will play a key role in trying to pass a restructuring plan. “The danger is that people could get fixated on their idea and they don’t keep the goals in mind.”\nKenley believes there is general consensus on the goals: providing significant property tax relief, particularly for homeowners; developing a new system that is fair and reasonable; tax assessments that can be relied upon and bills being sent out on time; and having bills that Hoosiers can understand.\nDaniels says his plan is likely to include proposed amendments to the state constitution so reductions on the reliance on property taxes cannot be undone. Lawmakers have at times raised state taxes to pay for property tax relief, but the relief has always eroded while the higher state tax rates have remained.\n“I have said that what we do has to be fair, far-reaching and final, and final means that I will be looking for ways to make this last,” Daniels said.\nKenley and Republican Rep. Jeff Espich of Uniondale,Ind., the fiscal leader for House Republicans, said they are glad Daniels will have his own plan. Both noted that the governor has a huge bully pulpit and said it was important that he advance his own ideas. They could provide some needed direction, Espich said.\n“You (a governor) can’t just throw it to the Legislature because there are so many competing interests,” Espich said.\nBut will Daniels’ plan overshadow any proposal the interim commission comes up with? After all, if members of all four caucuses on the commission can agree on a proposal, it could boost its chances of getting through the General Assembly.\nKenley says he’s not worried about that.\n“The governor proposes and the Legislature disposes,” Kenley said, noting that the Legislature made some major changes to some of Daniels’ past proposals.\n“I think the governor has learned that flexibility is the key to working with us,” he said. “He had to learn that just like I had to learn that when I first got here.”\nIt could be a good thing that so many will have weighed in on the issue before the session begins. In a way it shows the level of concern that special interest groups, Daniels and many lawmakers have about restructuring property taxes. It shows a sense of urgency, and urgency is often what it takes to get major, complex legislation enacted into law — especially in an election year.\n“By the time we get to get to the solution people ought to be so sick and tired of talking about it,” Kenley said. “I think that will demonstrate just how much they know.”\nLike a sense of urgency, being sick and tired of debating an issue in the General Assembly can also help pave the path to getting something passed. When mental fatigue sets in, lawmakers are often more likely to soften their positions and compromise.\nThe art of passing legislation is compromise, and when it comes to something like overhauling the property tax system, it will take a lot of compromising.