There must be an election coming.  Sen. Evan Bayh visited the state this week to promote his property tax relief plan.  I’m all for giving taxpayer relief, but where was Bayh the past six months when the Indiana Democratic Party he leads was busy killing a Republican push to make property tax caps permanent?

Sen. Evan Bayh was in Fort Wayne on Wednesday, talking about his plan to bring permanent tax relief to more than 568,000 middle-class Hoosiers.

The Indiana Democrat said the Homeowner Tax Fairness Act of 2009 would remove caps on deductions for those who do not itemize their federal tax deductions.

The enhanced deduction would offer new tax relief for up to 30 million homeowners across the country, he said.

Calling this “permanent tax relief” is a little generous.  The plan basically allows an increase in the cap to allow some tax filers to deduct their property tax bill from their taxable income.  It does nothing to reduce your property tax bill to begin with.

Under Mitch Daniels’ property tax relief plan that he passed in 2008 and is being implemented this year and next, property taxes would be capped at 1% of the value of a home.  That’s real relief since it reduces bills today.  Under Bayh’s plan you pay the government today for the privelege of them giving you a scrap or two in return at some point in the future.

It doesn’t appear to have much of an impact on Hoosiers anyway.  Bayh’s office released this example:

A non-itemizing family with $75,000 of taxable income and a $3,000 property tax bill would receive a $750 tax cut this year—$500 more than under current law.

Remember, the Daniels’ property tax relief plan capped taxes at 1% of a home’s value.  So under Bayh’s scenario, a family of four in Indiana earning $75,000 a year with a $3,000 tax bill would own a $300,000 home.  It would cost them almost half of their take-home pay to buy a house that has a high enough tax bill to even qualify for a tax deduction of $750 dollars.

I’m sure overextended families can use every little bit, but this plan seems geared to the East and West Coasts, where taxes are high and home values have plummeted.  It won’t do much for Hoosiers thanks to property tax relief that has already been passed by Republicans, but I’m sure it plays great in East Coast early primary states.