Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Monday, July 18, 2011
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) - Four years ago this week, outrage over soaring property taxes boiled over with protests at the governor’s mansion that lit the fuse for a constitutional cap on tax bills.
The circuit breaker Governor Daniels proposed months later became law the following year, and is now part of the constitution.
About one in eight homes bumped against the caps last year, the first year they were in full effect.
Those property owners saved about $100-million dollars in taxes.
The circuit breaker has lowered bills on all properties statewide by nearly a half-billion dollars.
Along with the tax caps, legislators approved Daniels' plan to shift all school funding and some other local spending to the state.
That move lopped another $900-million dollars off property tax bills, but Hoosiers have paid about the same amount in increased sales taxes to cover it.
Kokomo Realtor and Howard County Commissioner Paul Wyman, a leader of the push to put the caps in the constitution, says the changes have created a fairer tax system and stabilized property values.
He says before the caps, there were neighborhoods where taxes had skyrocketed so much that it was literally impossible to sell homes.
But Andrew Berger with the Association of Indiana counties warns the money taxpayers have saved is money local governments have lost.
He says counties have made the easy spending cuts, but says many may soon have to cut workers.
He says Hoosiers should be ready for longer lines as the price of lower bills.
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