The Indiana Property Tax Scam

All right, let’s talk about property taxes. And I’m going to use my own bill to point out to you how everything I’ve been telling you for the past year and a half is coming true. You can look up what I’m about to tell you. Property tax bills are public record. I can look up yours, you can look up mine, it’s not private. The bills are coming, and remember you pay in arrears. Your assessment comes first, and then you pay on that a year later. Everything is a year behind. You get your assessment in the spring or summer, and then you pay based on that assessment the following year. You are always paying off your assessment. There’s an elected assessor, and that person and their team determine what they think your home is worth on the fair market. They look at changes, upgrades, and then they look at property sales. What someone else sold their home for. You’re not making any money, but they raise your assessment based on what someone else did. That’s an unrealized capital gain. We’re doing the exact same thing here. A government figure you’ll likely never meet tells you what your home is worth. These people are often understaffed. They’re sending people out and they’re just making it up in many cases. I’ve called and challenged things in my assessment, and they’ve admitted mistakes and fixed them. Always challenge your assessment. Always call and make them walk through it with you. Look at your neighbors’ assessments. That’s a great way to see if you’re in line. I did that. My house was higher than similar homes, and they corrected it. The point is, the bills are here. And I told you last year when they passed Senate Bill 1 that your bill might go down next year. Don’t get fooled. That was by design. That 10% credit Braun talked about was meant to make your bill go down in year one, maybe year two, so you’d stop paying attention. That’s what this was about. Throw a few crumbs, get people off their backs, and hope no one notices the long-term impact. They said they were coming back for more. Did they come back for more this year? What did they do? Nothing. Braun lied. Micah lied. They made big declarations and delivered nothing. Don’t forget the other thing hanging out there. In 2029, the new local income tax system goes into effect. If you live in a town or city, your local government can levy income tax for the first time, and your income tax will go up. That was the money grab. It’s not about making you pay less. It’s about making you think you’re paying less while shifting where the money comes from. The state told cities and towns help is on the way. You may lose money now, but you’ll get income tax authority later. Now they’ve even delayed that to 2029. And now lawmakers are asking those same local governments for help because they’ve messed it up so badly. Also, nothing stops school districts from putting referendums on the ballot. You’re going to see those all over the state. If they don’t like the revenue they’re getting, they will go to voters. In many places, those will pass. So in 2029 your income tax likely goes up, and before that, school referendums could raise your property taxes. Now let’s talk about how that credit ends up meaning nothing. Let’s do some math. That’s why they hate me, because I point out what they do. My property tax assessment for my very modest Brownsburg home is $234,000. When I bought it in 2022, it was about $166,000. The state says my home went up around $70,000 in a few years. I haven’t made a penny off that. But I’ve been paying more in property taxes because of it. Last year I paid $2,273 in property taxes. With the new assessment, without the credit, I would have paid $2,340, because taxes are capped at 1% of assessed value. That’s $234,000 times 1%. So the 10% credit should have reduced my bill by $234. But my bill only went down $162. Why? Because the assessment went up. The rising assessment eats into the credit. That’s the trick. As your assessment increases, it cancels out the reduction. So instead of a full $234 decrease, I only saw $162. That difference is because of the higher assessment. If that keeps happening, the credit disappears entirely. In about three years, that credit is gone. Completely wiped out by rising assessments. So in a few years, the credit Braun bragged about is meaningless. At the same time, your income tax could go up, and you could be facing school referendums. You end up paying more, not less. That’s the reality. It’s all in the numbers. And the issue isn’t just the policy, it’s how it was presented. People were told this would help them, when in reality it sets them up to pay more over time. If anyone wants to say that’s wrong, they can come explain it. But everything I said would happen is happening.