Fran Quigley is an attorney "working on local and international poverty issues." In an opinion piece for The Indianapolis Star, she says there are lots of other things the state could do instead of "handcuffing future generations" with a constitutional property tax cap and "cutting public education, health care for the disabled or other services" as a "last resort":
Like expanding the state's sales tax, which is our top source of revenue, to include more services.
[. . .]
Indiana's flat tax poses a horrible burden on our state finances.
[. . .]
And property taxes . . . to keep streets safe, schools open and garbage picked up. But have you noticed how angry voters get about property taxes
? Never mind that taxing an asset like property can be more fair and consistent than income and sales taxes.
You get the idea. The state never has to make all those cuts "as a last resort" when there are all those wonderful taxes to increase or extend or to make more progressive so the rich get soaked more. I suspect "working on poverty issues" means taking as much of my money as possible. I've been poor, and I'm sure exactly what a poverty "issue" is. All I knew was that I wanted to do everything possible to make sure I wouldn't stay poor, and, alas, Fran wasn't around to help me.
