The three candidates for Indiana Lieutenant Governor met for a debate Tuesday hosted by AgriInstitute at the Indiana State Fair to discuss ag policies and issues impacting rural Hoosiers. One of the main issues discussed during the debate was Indiana’s property taxes.
Hoosier Ag Today’s Vice President Eric Pfeiffer, who served as one of the panelists for the debate, posed the following question for the candidates:
“Property taxes will be the number one issue that farm organizations like Indiana Farm Bureau, the Indiana Corn Growers Association, and Indiana Soybean Alliance take into the 2025 legislative session. One, do you believe farmers are unfairly treated under the current property tax formula because their profession simply requires more land? And what do you see as a potential solution? Can you give us some details on your property tax plan?”
Micah Beckwith, the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor, responded by saying that farmers are being unfairly treated by Indiana’s property tax system.
“Farmers have seen an increase from last year to this year of 26.2 percent in property taxes. That’s insane. That’s absolutely out of control and farmers need the relief,” said Beckwith. “The Braun/Beckwith plan is going to bring that relief to farmers. We’re going to make sure that they have never again will you ever be able to outpace economic growth of an area,”
Beckwith laid out the property tax plan from Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Braun.
“Three percent is going to be the cap. It can’t grow 26 percent in a year,” said Beckwith. “We’re going to grow with economic stability. We’re going to make sure that farmers are not seeing these wide swaths of just huge jumps in their property taxes.”
Terry Goodin, who is the Democrat candidate for Lieutenant Governor, said the solution for Indiana’s property taxes isn’t just a quick fix.
“It’s easy for us for State politicians to sit up and say, ‘Well, we’re going to cut your property taxes and we’re going to lower your property taxes.’ Guess what? Property taxes are 100-percent local. It’s easy for those folks to say that,” said Goodin. “What they need to say is, ‘We’re going to quit making cuts of property taxes until we find out what we can do to lower your property taxes and that is through growth.”
Although Goodin didn’t give any specifics, he said he and Democrat gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick would put together a plan to tackle the property tax issue.
“We’re going to present opportunities in rural communities where they can grow and they can grow themselves out of these property tax crises that we’re in. We’ve got crises after crises here that’s been created by one-party rule in the last 20 years.”
Meanwhile, Tonya Hudson, the Libertarian candidate for Lieutenant Governor, said her party’s plan is to abolish Indiana’s property taxes altogether.
“You should not be paying property taxes on a home that you already own—whether you’re a farmer or a senior citizen living on Social Security and barely making ends meet,” said Hudson. “[If] your property taxes go up and you can’t pay them, then we have this Mafia-style tactic where through a Sheriff’s sale or whatever, if you can’t pay your property taxes, you get kicked out of the home that you own. We should not be doing that.”
Hudson described how Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Donald Rainwater’s plan would make up that lost revenue.
“Instead of property taxes, when you buy a home, you pay a seven-percent sales tax. If you can’t afford the seven percent at closing, you can pay one percent a year for seven years,” says Hudson. “The local communities get together and work out the budget to pay our fire and police and they figure out a way to have the fees to cover those costs without burdening the homeowners with unfair property taxes.”
CLICK BELOW to watch the entire Indiana Lieutenant Governor Debate—Hosted by AgriInstitute—at the Indiana State Fairgrounds and Event Center on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024.
