Andrea Neal of the Indiana Policy Review: Say, about that "low-tax state" thing:
Popular perception to the contrary, Indiana is not a low-tax state. When you add up all the different taxes — property, sales and income assessed by federal, state or local government — we rank right in the middle.
Twenty-three states have lower overall tax loads than Indiana’s. A few more may join them if they follow through with plans to reform their tax systems.
This is the best argument for Gov. Mike Pence’s tax cut proposal, an idea that has yet to make it into the budget bill and has received lukewarm support from lawmakers. Pence has proposed reducing the state’s income tax from 3.4 percent to 3.06 percent, saving Hoosiers about $380 million a year.
Republicans, who hold supermajorities in both houses, should be jumping at the chance. When a state can afford a tax cut, and Indiana can, it’s smart to pass one.
She points out that if tax-cut proposals are successful in Nebraska, Louisiana and Kansas, it could "provide the momentum for a nationwide trend." Do we really want to be in the bottom half of states when it comes to overall tax loads, competing for employers with all those other states having a better business-friendly environment?
