property tax

Andrea Neal is a middle school teacher and adjunct scholar with the Indiana Policy Review Foundation. Contact her at aneal@inpolicy.org.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- If you want to know what's happening to tax dollars in Marion County, you may have to file a lawsuit. That's what citizens have had to do in the case of the sale of Pan Am Plaza, a prime piece of Downtown real estate for which taxpayers should have received $6 million.

The operative word is "should." For reasons that are not very clear -- but should be exposed over the course of the litigation -- the powers that be decided that the Indiana Sports Corp. need not honor a 1985 agreement that required it to maintain an 88,000-square-foot plaza as public space or else pay the city $3 million plus inflation for it.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- LPMC supporters joined area tax reform advocates at the Indianapolis/Marion County City-County Council meeting Monday night where Mayor Ballard was set to present his 2009 budget.

Event organizer, Melyssa Donaghy, addresses property tax issues around the state on the blog Hoosiers for Fair Taxation. In a post from last night's meeting, she notes Mayor Ballard proposed a 35% cut in arts funding in lieu of tight budgets.

Supporters gathered for a post-meeting dinner downtown.




See more photos ONLINE.

Photos courtesy of Patriot Paul Wheeler.

Greg Kelver is the candidate for State Senate District 8. He is the past Chairman of the LaPorte County LP and member of the LPIN State Central Committee. He is a contributor to the LaPorter County blog.

UNION MILLS, IN -- Once again the LaPorte County Commissioners, particularly Commissioners Bill Hager and Barb Huston, have demonstrated that they are not qualified to govern a high school class much less a real county with 110,000 real lives in it.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Sheila Jenkins from the non-profit Community Development Law Center is exploring ways to challenge property taxes.

She is spearheading a forum on Saturday July 12 at 9 a.m. at Englewood Church, 57 N. Rural in Indy.

For her efforts to make an impact, she needs to demonstrate that the state's property tax policies are forcing people out of their homes.

If you or anyone else you know are in danger of losing propertys because of property taxes, please attend Sheila's forum on Saturday. If you cannot attend but have information to share, please contact Laurie Klinger at 637-6242 or lklinger@indy.rr.com.

Reprinted from Justice and Fortitude, the blog of LPMC member Timothy Maguire.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN -- Diana Vice put it best on her blog, Welcome to my Tea Party, when she asked: What did you do on the fourth? Her answer?

I spent the morning at the governor’s mansion exercising my First Amendment right of free speech. Despite the heavy rainfall, a good many taxpayers showed up to make their voices heard.

Some said it was going to be a Horning campaign rally. While the media tried to make it appear so, it wasn’t. Everyone was given a chance to speak.

Some said it was going to be a negative rally. It wasn’t. The attendees were even congratulated for their good work last year.

LAPORTE, IN -- The DLGF has issued its long awaited Resolution 2008-01 DLGF on the LaPorte County reassessment fiasco and they will be back in town Thursday for another public meeting DLGF Public Hearing - May 15th. Is the glass half full or is the glass half empty? To overstressed taxpayers (aka Republicans) in Michigan Township the reassessment glass probably now appears half full. To wasteful whiners in local government (aka Democrats), the reassessment glass probably looks about half empty. But from my perspective (aka Libertarian), there is a third way of looking at it that might be considered by some - reality suggests that we damn sure need to get ourselves a new glass.

Written by Rex Bell, candidate for Statehouse District 54.

HAGERSTOWN, IN - One of the problems we face when we talk about eliminating property taxes is the insistence by our elected officials that the loss of revenue would result in the loss of government services. The first things they mention are police and fire protection. I guess that is the first lesson in Politics 101. Whenever taxpayers start to complain about excessive government spending, threaten them with the loss of police and fire protection. And if they complain about the cost of the new high school gymnasium, threaten to lay-off some teachers.