...harder times are still to come.

By Ken Zuk

"....harder times are still to come."  -  Larry DeBoer, Purdue Dept. of Agricultural Economics -- Crestview Middle School, February 8, 2010

This statement from professor DeBoer, summed up the first formal,  truly personal, economics lesson of my life.  The effects of property tax reform on all of us, has, is and will be good, bad and ugly.  To explain this, the Long Island, New York native used his 11 page lesson - filled with graphs, percentages, and long lists of county tax cap percentages in proving that Huntington is in a very interesting, financially precarious place in its history.  The 3 billion dollar Daniels Shift, (my words - not his), from property taxes to sales taxes mixed in with optional locally imposed income taxes did not equal out.  Not enough sales tax revenue coming in, (because of the recession), and we kept on spending like it would suddenly appear.  And this, "You can't collect income taxes from a laid off factory worker,"  a quote from a former Huntington City resident.  

Now, to make matters even worse, the Net Property Tax payments, on page three in the analysis, did not include the now infamous commercial/industrial property tax appeals which netted  a million dollars less in payments and  "shocked", "shocked" the Updike administration.  The good professor also said, "An increase in taxes causes all government units, (County, City, School, Library, Township), to be interdependent on each other."  In other words - We are all  forced to be in this together.  With all this ridiculous rhetoric about "socialism", this shows you that maybe, in hard times, we have to be - and it exists somewhere between a rock and  even harder times.

More on the specifics of "The Effects of Property Tax Reform in Huntington County, Indiana"  go to   www.agecon.purdue.edu/crd/Localgov

More analysis in the next few days

Comments

[Knows Better]

This is the real stuff. Understanding the economics of our times will explain everything and will mean much less emphasis on political affiliation and much more on getting the right person into office to help us cope with what is ahead.

Anyone that has used an appointed or elected position for personal gain (hiring advantages, contract getting....) should be ruled out for any future office. There are many others who have the capability and correct ethical reasons for running. Get them in!

[Buddy Brennan]

Knows Better, I could not have said it better!!!!!