Niki Kelly, writing for the Fort Wayne Journal Courier, is reporting that the Senate Commission on State Tax and Financing Policy will not issue a final recommendation. The panel has been studying the property tax issue all summer. It is not unusual for summer study committees to not issue final recommendations, though perhaps in this case – given the high level of interest – one would be expected. The panel is formally made up of 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats. Even without a formal recommendation, the study still probably had value. A lot of good information came out over the course of the study and that will be useful in analyzing any plans that are proposed this coming session. I wonder if the Republicans may have been afraid of stepping on the toes of Governor Daniels by approving and publicizing their plan before he announced his own or afraid of providing an excuse for Eric Miller to get mad again when the legislators act responsibly and propose a tax plan that might actually work.
[…] I could have sworn the committee had declined to make a recommendation. Perhaps they have new information. Perhaps the Indianapolis mayoral election results have them spooked. […]