Lake County has avoided passing a local income tax over questions about its fairness.
The Lake County Council skirted those issues in the past by cutting public spending levels by tens of millions of dollars. However, the budget-makers still came up $15 million short for 2013 because of declining property tax revenues.
Lake County is the only county in Indiana without a local income tax, and no one is yet publicly advocating its passage, but it remains an option for an uncertain financial future.
Imposing an income tax in the county five years ago floundered over objections the estimated $80 million tax would be imposed on employees instead of employers and its benefits would be unequal.
Another concern is whether income taxes collected to lower the county's overall property tax burden would be fairly distributed among the county's 19 towns and cities.
Larry Blanchard, a former county councilman who voted against the tax in 2007, complains the law at that time resembled an experiment in redistribution of wealth, since some municipalities would have received more, or less, property tax relief than their residents paid in income tax.
This year, council members bought themselves a reprieve by voting to borrow enough money to replace the shortfall for next year. But they expect another deficit in 2014.
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