UPDATE 12:30pm - Two new reactions to the House GOP Plan.   

First, from the Gov.’s office: His press secretary says Gov. Daniels supports part of the plan, but questions using the state surplus for additional relief.

And from Senate Democrat Leader (and governor candidate) Richard Young:  

“I am encouraged that we have an agreement among legislative leaders that this situation warrants use of the state’s surplus.

“Lawmakers have proposed several plans for immediate relief, including our Senate Democrats’ plan to immediately advance three hundred million dollars from the state’s surplus for rebate checks. We simply want to see the state relief that we’ve already approved get to taxpayers as quickly as possible and in the most efficient way.

“The members of the Senate Democratic Caucus stand ready, as we have stated before, to participate in a special session to provide immediate property tax relief to Hoosier homeowners.”

10:00am - House Republicans just completed a news conference, calling for a special session to deal with the property tax crisis, and issued a five point plan they claim would drop the average bill increase to ZERO.

  Here’s their plan:

1. Turn the property tax rebate checks to credits on the fall bill.
2. Extend the deadline for filing for homestead tax exemptions to September for this year’s bills.
3. Give local governments the option of applying tax credit unequally, giving more money to hardest hit homeowners.
4. State to pick up increases in child welfare costs.
5. Use $100 million of budget surplus for immediate additional property tax relief.

If your bill doubled or even tripled, you would still see an increase, just not quite as high as the original bill.

In a rather sarcastic news conference to give his response, House Speaker Pat Bauer said Republicans are “making progress” but still not there yet.  He also said he still opposes a special session.

Remember, last week GOP Senators rejected the idea of a special session.

More at Noon, 5 and 6.  In the meantime, give us your thoughts here.

Normally this space is reserved for the follies of Indiana’s elected officials, but today I aim my slings and arrows east and turn my attention toward Iraqi politicians. They’ve decided that they’ve spent so much time getting nothing done that they need a vacation.

That’s right, the Iraqi parliament is taking August off. So while American military troops are getting killed trying to stabilize the country, the Iraqi government is taking the rest of the summer off. One Iraqi official was event quoted as saying it’s their “constitutional right” to take a vacation.

Iraq is making some progress militarily, however the ony way to solve that nation’s problems is through a political settlement between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. And you can’t solve problems by taking the day off.

I am not a member of the “get out of Iraq” crowd because to leave would only make things worse, but if Iraq’s own government won’t stick around to solve its problems, why should we?

There is a question brewing as to whether local protesters are wearing out their welcome. The first was the Indiana Tea Party on Saturday led by former local Dominatrix Melissa Donaghy and another is scheduled for tonight in Greenwood by Christian conservative activist Eric Miller.

For critics of the protesters I remind them one little fact. When a local dominatrix and cultural conservative are on the same page and united (at least in principle) against the government and its taxes, the planets have definitely shifted their alignment and politicians should stand up and take notice.

While Sen. Luke Kenley’s committee was hearing testimony Monday on changing property tax rebate checks to credits, a pair of Republican lawmakers threw out a new challenge in the debate.

Rep. Mike Murphy and Sen. Brent Steele have proposed a constitutional amendment that would cap government spending increases at the level of income growth in the county/counties.  The draft version in their press release reads :

 GROWTH IN SPENDING FROM ONE YEAR TO THE NEXT FOR ANY UNIT OF GOVERNMENT MAY NOT EXCEED THE MOST RECENT DOCUMENTED GROWTH IN AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD INCOME FOR THE COUNTY OR COUNTIES WHICH THAT UNIT  SERVES. AN ANNUAL EXCEPTION FOR ANY UNIT MAY BE GRANTED ONLY BY EXECUTIVE ORDER OF THE GOVERNOR.

Interesting concept, but it’s certain to draw a lot of criticism.

A state legislative committee studying ways to fix Indiana’s property tax crisis meets this morning in the Statehouse (9am, Room 404).

The group’s main focus today: the property tax rebate check scheme devised and championed by House Speaker Pat Bauer. I’ll be at the hearing, and have details for you on the News at Noon, 5 and 6, but in the meantime, I thought I’d bring back this post earlier this month on the tax checks, and let you sound off on it.

It’s all about ‘me’. That’s the important thing to remember in the current property tax mess. It isn’t how much your tax goes up or whether it’s fair. It’s all about whether your friendly State Legislator gets the proper credit. That’s why you’re not getting a credit on your bill now, when you need it, but have to wait until sometime next year after you’ve already hocked the heirloom china to pay your bill.

The last time the legislature did anything about property taxes was in 2002, when they raised the sales tax to provide property tax relief the next year, when reassessment hit like a nuclear bomb. ( I won’t use their terminology, that they “cut property taxes”, because it was nothing of the kind. It just sort of mitigated a bigger hike.)

But lawmakers were unhappy because you didn’t give them the credit they thought they deserved. House Speaker Pat Bauer is blunt about it. They designed the rebate so there could be no doubt who provided this bounty this time. Not only does it come separately, but it will contain an insert stating that the check comes courtesy of your Friendly State Legislator. The law even dictates the size of the type on this note.

Never mind that county treasurers of both parties have criticized this idea bitterly. They say it will cause them a lot of work to calculate, process, and mail the rebates that could have been much more easily done as a credit. And it will cost money to do it, money that could have gone into additional tax relief. And you’ll get it Who Knows When. The original target was November, but that’s been moved back until after the first of the year, and some treasurers say they won’t be able to get them out until spring. But remember, none of that matters, because it’s all about ‘me’ and who gets the credit.