Commissioners to Send Letter Urging Tax Replacement, Not Erasure
Posted
Jordan Fouts-
Kosciusko County Commissioners this morning agreed to draft a letter to state legislators endorsing a plan to replace lost revenue if the business personal property tax is eliminated. County Treasurer Sue Ann Mitchell requested commissioners’ signatures on a letter from the Association of Indiana Counties expressing opposition to eliminating the tax without a replacement. Commissioner Bob Conley moved to sign the letter, but commission President Brad Jackson declined to sign it as written. Jackson said he wasn’t comfortable with the opening of the letter expressing opposition to eliminating the tax, though he does support replacing the lost revenue. “I support elimination of the tax, but they need to replace the revenue. It’s pretty simple... I just struggle, any time we have a chance to get rid of a tax,” Jackson said. “I’m not probably going to sign this, but if we put something together on our own, I would support that.” Mitchell said they can change the language as they like, she just wants to send a message to legislators not to make a rash decision with unintended consequences. The letter commissioners ultimately agree on will not be a formal resolution. It will be sent to state representatives Rebecca Kubacki and Dave Wolkins and senators Ryan Mishler, Randy Head and Carlin Yoder. Mitchell told commissioners the state legislature is moving forward on elimination of the tax, with the house version giving local governments leeway to collecting the tax or not. That would only pit one county against another in trying to attract businesses, she said. Since the state doesn’t rely on the property tax and wouldn’t feel the pinch that loss of the revenue would spell for the counties, she said the AIC proposes allowing businesses to count local taxes as credit against taxes owed to the state. “The state has no skin in the game because they don’t collect one dime in personal property tax,” she told commissioners. “Our government units can’t live with that cut.” She noted that increasing property taxes locally would only recoup $7 million of the $10 million that would be lost, and observed that the state proposal has nothing to do with balancing the budget but rather with the state taking credit for what it believes might attract business. “We hear people saying it’s wonderful for the economy (but) we can do tax abatements... with this, there’s no way to incentivize, no bargaining chip,” she said. “The legislators are going to sit down and they’re going to make the sausage, and we’re going to have to eat what they cook up.”
