INDIANAPOLIS– An Indiana task force is working towards what the chairperson calls a potential “overhaul” of the state’s tax system.
Wednesday’s meeting, which featured nearly three hours of testimony from state tax experts, marked the first of several meetings planned for the new “State and Local Tax Review Tax Force.”
The group started out by looking into three key issues:
- The State Debt
- State-managed pensions
- The State’s short- and long-term financial outlook
The State Budget Agency says Indiana currently has a healthy balance between revenues and costs. However, the agency’s chief economist told the task force the overall amount of revenue coming in is going down, and isn’t expected to stabilize until next year.
The chairperson of the task force says there are also growing concerns if the state remains complacent with the current tax system, Indiana could lose its competitive advantage to bring in more business. That’s why the chairperson said the task force has assigned smaller work groups (consisting of two senators each) to analyze all four tax classes.
“It has been some 20 years since the General Assembly has taken a strategic, holistic view of the tax structure in Indiana,” State Sen. Travis Holdman, chairperson of the State and Local Tax Review Task Force, said. “We will attempt to tackle over the next two years with some hopeful recommendations to the 20-25 legislature.”
The chairperson said the group will also look into eliminating the individual income tax. The group is set to discuss that tax class in more detail this October.
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