Commerce Chamber President Talks State Budget & Property

Source: (PHOTO: Abdul-Hakim Shabazz/WIBC)

STATEHOUSE — The Indiana Chamber of Commerce has its eyes on several pieces of legislation affecting your money. At the top of that list: the state budget and property taxes.

Chamber President Kevin Brinegar said Wednesday he has a few expectations from the next state budget.

“One being child care, trying to raise the On My Way Pre-K income threshold,” said Brinegar, “also, include a bill that Senator Kyle Walker has that would write a tax credit to companies that expand child care capacity.”

Brinegar says expanding child care capacity would greatly contribute to re-supplying the workforce, which is still below pre-pandemic levels of participation.

Another priority for Brinegar and the state Chamber of Commerce is increasing property taxes, and what can be done to start pushing those numbers in the opposite direction.

“One of the members of our lobbying team got their assessment and bill yesterday,” Brinegar explains, “the assessment value was up 13-percent and the bill was up 8-percent.”

He says it’s going to be a tricky problem to solve, given how late in the legislative session it already is, and he claims the General Assembly doesn’t have the ability to greatly affect current property taxes. Whatever solutions the Indiana House and/or Senate come up with, Brinegar says the Chamber will keep a close eye on the situation.

“Our big concern is we will be watching to make sure that anything that they come up with doesn’t cause a shift in property tax burdens from one class of property to another. Particularly, from residential to business.”