On the front page of your paper for Nov. 17-18, Gary Gerard wrote an article in regards to how repealing the property tax would harm the gross income of Kosciusko County. I am asking the Times-Union to repeat this article again.
I would ask anyone to do the math. One percent sales tax, and an increase in the county option income tax, will not offset the dollars of income that is currently received from our property owners on the lakes of Kosciusko County.
Gov. Daniel's plan has a couple of good points. The people should have a right to vote on any new building projects. And a cap on property taxes is a good idea. But let's begin with the true value of a property, not an estimate of the current value. To do this is very simple. What was paid for the property by the person who owns it is what it is valued at. Then let's determine what is the correct rate.
I personally do not like this 1-2-3 idea. The consumer is always going to end up paying these taxes. On rentals, it means the rent will have to be higher. On businesses, it means that the products sold will have to be higher and the taxpayer will just pay the higher tax in another form. Plus, businesses provide jobs, which they will not do if the overhead for them becomes too high. Take a look at Michigan, that state is in trouble, much like the path Daniels has us on. Why have we lost so many jobs overseas? Believe me, it is not just the higher cost of labor, but higher taxes as well. Indiana needs to be a tax-friendly state to business.
We must keep our local government intact. If we allow Gov. Daniels to remove our local people, it will become impossible to get a telephone call through to the higher (state level). Our problems within our state of Indiana are not so much on the local level. Our real huge problem is at the state level. We must prevent state government from removing any more control from us at the township and county.
Back to Gov. Daniels' desire to increase our sales tax. If he does it once, he'll likely do it again. With the price of gasoline, he is getting an extra 3 cents for each increase of 50 cents. This is millions and millions of dollars he is receiving above what was being received last year. Let him be satisfied.
One last thought. We were told that gambling in Indiana would solve our money problems. I just read in another newspaper that Indiana has taken in more than $9 billion from this since it started. Indiana is the third state in gambling revenue, behind New Jersey and Nevada. More taxes for Indiana is not the answer. Less spending by our state government is the answer.
