Did You Know?
One good way to get the constitutional property tax caps in Senate Joint Resolution 1 passed by the 2009 General Assembly is through a Taxpayer Friendly Compromise between Governor Mitch Daniels and House Speaker Pat Bauer.
When one considers the state and local tax burden of Hoosier working families, the following Taxpayer Friendly Compromise makes sense:
1. Allow a 2009 House vote on the exact same version of SJR 1 that passed in 2008 in return for spending $300 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund on legislative priorities in the next budget.
2. Using $300 million of the state's $1.3 billion Rainy Day Fund in the next budget makes sense. The current recession is already the third longest since the Great Depression and is not likely to last beyond the next budget. Speaker Bauer is correct when he says "it is raining now."
3. The Taxpayer Friendly Compromise is fiscally responsible because $1 billion will be left in the state’s Rainy Day Fund for future contingencies.
4. To build momentum for the Taxpayer Friendly Compromise, the State Senate can vote on SJR 1 in January, 2009. COMPLETED: The State Senate passed SJR 1 by a 34-16 vote on February 9, 2009.
5. The State Senate, together with Governor Daniels, can decline to accept any budget that uses the Rainy Day Fund until the House votes on SJR 1.
6. SJR 1 supporters should ask those constituents who will benefit to encourage Governor Daniels and Speaker Bauer to accept the Taxpayer Friendly Compromise.
7. The Taxpayer Friendly Compromise will remove SJR 1 as an important partisan issue in the 2010 election.
8. The passage of constitutional property tax caps promises to be a legacy vote for which legislators will be lauded by generations of Hoosiers to come.
9. We The People will get to vote on the constitutional property tax caps in 2010. The collective wisdom of the voters will determine if the constitutional caps and the supporting legislation can be expected to provide a more fair and affordable tax burden while maintaining necessary government services. The SJR 1 decision is so important that it should properly be made by the voters.
10. Rigid political ideology must not get in the way - all SJR 1 supporters can accept the pragmatic Taxpayer Friendly Compromise. The $300 million Rainy Day Fund budget compromise as a good way to get a 2009 vote on the exact same version of SJR 1 that passed the General Assembly in 2008!
From Watchdog Indiana