Right now, state legislators are weighing whether to move forward with key legislation in both the House and Senate to phase out, eliminate and/or exempt a major portion of the business personal property tax. The Indiana Chamber, Gov. Mike Pence and a host of tax experts believe this is an important and wise move to reform a tax that discourages business investment and job creation.

Please take a moment right now to send a message to your state legislators urging them to support a phase-out to elimination of the business personal property tax.

House Bill 1001, authored by Rep. Eric Turner (R-Cicero), would provide county officials the ability to choose to exempt business personal property taxes on new equipment – effectively a phase-out option. Senate Bill 1, sponsored by Sen. Brandt Hershman (R-Buck Creek), would eliminate the bottom 50% of filers of this tax – for whom tax receipts make up only 1% of total receipts.

Some background information and facts:
•    The effective property tax rate for commercial and industrial property taxpayers is near the top of the states in every category (big, small, urban or rural), and this is largely due to the state’s tax on business equipment.
•    Taxing the very machinery and equipment that allows companies of all sizes (79% of Indiana manufacturers have fewer than 50 employees) to operate, expand and create jobs makes little sense.
•    Our state is among the five or six states that tax business personal property tax at the highest rates. Most Midwest states don’t have the tax at all. We need to shift away from a tax that discourages business investment and job creation.
•    This is not a $1 billion hit to local governments. No one is advocating an immediate and entire elimination – and certainly not without restructuring for revenue replacements. This is a complicated issue because the tax funds local units of government, but there are a variety of options to replace lost revenues.

There is major support among legislative leaders and the rank-and-file for a phase-out to elimination of the business personal property tax. However, they are being inundated with objections from local government officials who simply don’t want a change. We believe economic growth and job creation should be the priority, not protecting the status quo.