Jennifer Whitson, writing for the Evansville Courier Press reports that Governor Daniels supports more flexibility for local governments in terms of taxing authority and fewer mandates from Indianapolis on how local government needs to spend money. I agree with the Governor on this, but he is implementing this vision exactly backwards from how it ought to be done.
I went into the problem at greater length yesterday. What has happened is that the State has cut subsidies it pays to local government and has not reduced taxes on citizens commensurate with the subsidy cut. Governor Daniels says he is in favor of providing local government with more taxing ability and, gradually, a change away from state mandates on the form of local government and toward more home rule.
Like I said, this is exactly backward. First should have come a reduction in state mandates on local government. Second should have come more taxing flexibility. And, last, should have been a shifting of burdens currently borne by the state to local government.
As it is, the local governments have been given additional burdens without adequate ability to tax to pay for those burdens. Next, presumably, will come more flexibility to impose taxes. However, the problem with that will be that the State and Federal government already have their places at the taxation trough. Allowing local government to be a bigger pig at the same trough isn’t going to help the citizens of Indiana.
Last, possibly, some day, the State will reduce mandates on local government which in theory could allow local government to maybe, possibly, gradually reduce the taxes it had to impose to meet its obligations.
Bass ackward.
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