Indiana Writers Group column for Feb. 27 and thereafter (720 words) (Editors: This column will be updated mid week after the full House votes on the resolution.) by Andrea Neal If politics is “the art of the possible,” as Otto von Bismarck remarked, property tax reform may be dead for 2008. The first serious sign of trouble came last week when House Democrats switched a property tax cap months in the making with a plan…

For release Feb. 20 and thereafter (620 words) by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Recently I had breakfast with two prominent advocates for Eric Miller’s plan to repeal property taxes. They were interested to learn about some deficiencies with the plan and their consultant’s report on the plan. That same day we traveled to Salem for a public forum sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce and Farm Bureau in Washington County hosted by Sen. Brent Steele and…

Indiana Writers Group column for Feb. 12 and thereafter (730 words) by Andrea Neal Indiana Congressman Mike Pence, a founder and former head of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation here, made national news last week when his name was floated as a suitable vice-presidential running mate for Republican John McCain. One obvious credential is the lead role he’s played in the attack on congressional earmarks. These are the pet projects, a.k.a. pork, which lawmakers routinely…

Indiana Writers Group column for release Feb. 6 and thereafter (620 words) by Jeff Abbott, J.D., Ph.D. Back in 1958 a movie was released in the theaters called "The Blob." The plot summary was that a mysterious creature from another planet resembling a giant blob of jelly landed on earth and kept getting larger and larger and devoured more and more people as it grew. Indiana’s government schools are much like the Blob. They keep…

Indiana Writers Group column for Feb. 6 and thereafter ( 597 words) by Andrew Horning I’m proud to have had something to do with the July 4 “property-tax protest” on the lawn of the Indiana Governor’s Mansion. Yet I’m sorry that most of us have made too much of property tax itself, and far too little of the real issue. The real issue is much more basic, critical, unequivocal and urgent: Our government is ungoverned,…

Indiana Writers Group column for Jan. 30 and thereafter (720 words) by Andrea Neal INDIANAPOLIS – Lawmakers are getting needless cold feet over a plan to let taxpayers decide the fate of school construction jobs. Indiana House Democrats have watered down a bill that would require a referendum on bond issues for expensive public building projects. They don’t trust the people. Their amendment exempted from public vote any construction directly related to education, such as…

Indiana Writers Group column for Jan. 23 and thereafter by Eric Schansberg, Ph.D. Here is a point to keep in mind as the property-tax debate approaches conclusion: Applying a number of significant changes to a complex policy may or may not have the desired outcomes. This General Assembly, then, is debating a tax gamble as much as a tax policy. Given the tax caps reiterated last week by Gov. Mitch Daniels in his state-of-the-state message,…

Indiana Writers Group column for release Jan. 16 and thereafter (710 words) by Andrea Neal You’ve got to give lawmakers credit for attacking property tax reform with a vengeance in the opening days of the 2008 General Assembly. But there’s political danger ahead if the debate turns into an all-or-nothing proposition. On one side: the abolitionists. These folks want to ride the wave of anti-tax sentiment that erupted across the state after the last reassessment.…

Indiana Writers Group column for release Jan. 9 and thereafter (711 words) by Dr. JEFF ABBOTT The sun had not set the day that the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform issued its report “Streamlining Local Government” before the education special-interest groups voiced their disapproval.The report’s co-chairmen, former Indiana Gov. Joseph Kernan and Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard, observed that: “Indiana is a place where the taxpayers support lots and lots of…

Indiana Writers Group column for release Jan. 2 and thereafter (720 words) by ANDREA NEAL It sounds like a recipe for legislative disaster: Attempt to resolve a property tax crisis in a short session during an election year. In normal times, those three ingredients might deter the bravest of souls from taking action. But these are not normal times and lawmakers from both parties are racing to prove their commitment to tax reform. The legislative…