INDIANAPOLIS — Monday, Indiana Gov. Mike Braun and Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith joined hundreds of protestors who donned green at the statehouse. The protestors were in Indianapolis to demand lawmakers reinstate Braun’s original tax property relief plan.
“We can’t keep up with this continued tax increase,” Rick Barr of Avon said.
As Gov. Braun approached the podium, he held a sign aloft that read “Who owns my House?” Protestors then greeted him with thunderous applause.
Leading up to his speech, Braun rolled up his sleeves in a show of solidarity for the protestors’ cause.
”I spent two years, ’23 and ’24, listening, which most people in this business don’t do,” Gov. Braun told the crowd. “They say they’re not hearing it. Well, they’re going to be hearing it after today if they haven’t before.”
Braun’s original plan would have reset property tax rates to what they were in 2021. A Senate committee removed that provision before passing the bill to the House.
“If they don’t want to fix property taxes, they don’t want to start taking care of the voters, we need to start voting for Democrats because the only thing they’re going to understand is losing seats,” Anderson resident Ken Williams said.
“They’re making me not vote for them anymore,” Dennis Wall of Whiteland said. “They need to lose some seats where they don’t have a supermajority.”
Chants of “Where’s Rod Bray?”, “Where’s my Money?”, and “Primary!” could be heard throughout the Statehouse from dissatisfied voters.
“Well, Indiana, I think the lawmakers can hear you now,” Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith said during the rally.
House Ways and Means introduced changes to Braun’s plan that offer a more long-term fix to property tax increases. Many protestors said they want reassurances short-term relief will also be included.
“They just keep going up and up,” Williams said. “Ours has more than doubled.”
“Ours probably went up $1,500 in the last three years,” Wall said.
“Our property tax on our farm ground just in the last year went up an average of about 24%,” Pam Bradley of Montgomery County said.
Many protestors also expressed hopes that Braun’s plan will be the first step in ultimately eliminating property taxes in Indiana.
“Now, will it get there this year? No,” Jon Minton of Plainfield said. “But they need to make a significant decision on reducing them, and preferably going to the proposal that Gov. Braun has.”
“That’s our ultimate goal: To get rid of those property taxes and replace those with a better system,” State Rep. Craig Haggard (R-Indianapolis) said.
House Ways and Means is currently discussing a 238-page amendment to the property tax bill. It’s unclear when House lawmakers will vote the bill out of committee.
