Property tax relief?

Indiana farmers are likely to find themselves in a tax crisis this year. I can remember when farm land sold for about $600 an acre in the middle 60’s. Now with the new assessments, this will increase farmland about 30%. And it is predicted by some that values will increase to $1,200 for 2009, $1,250 for 2010 and $1,380 for 2011. When farmers are working five hundred or more acres this will add up. (1)

This is not to mention April 1st those same farmers can start paying a additional one percent sales tax. This may not sound like much but amounts to $500 on a $50,000 tractor. As always the ones who will pay for these increases will be the consumer.

This will also affect the processing plants for grain and meat that these farmers produce.
Lets move on to the grocery store. With the new assessment on business and shopping centers, look for your grocery bill to go up in the near future. Let me assure you this will happen because the profit margin is very small at food stores.

Renters will be affected also, especially those with lower income, living in Center Township that was hardest hit. When they assess value of rentals raises, the rent is going to go up, especially with a two percent cap. Mobile home parks will also be hard hit with rent increase.
It looks as if the State has once again made a mess of the property tax issue. We can go back to 1973 to now and see that property tax relief to our government body here in Indiana is to lower property tax while raising other taxes. As before, in the end, we the tax payers will be putting out more money with the increase of the sales tax and increase cost of doing businesses in this State.

Don’t forget that these “caps” will not be phased unstil 2011 as I understand it. Also when you hear how much “savings” that they are giving you, that is based on the 2007 bills that you received that went up 30%, 50% to double or triple what they were in 2006.
Looking into the future, I can see a lot of changes in the personal in our State House.

(1) http://www.indems.org/news/purdue_professor_says_farmers_facing_higher_land_taxes