Sen. Leising: Bill Preventing Nearly $60 Million Tax Increase Passes
Senate
STATEHOUSE (Jan. 29, 2013) — The full Senate today approved State Sen. Jean Leising’s (R-Oldenburg)
legislation to prevent an estimated $57 million property tax increase on
Indiana farmers. Senate Bill 319 passed the Senate 48-0 and now moves to the
House of Representatives for further consideration.
Leising said her
bill would delay, for an additional year, the implementation of new 2012 soil
productivity factors proposed by the Department of Local Government Finance
(DLGF) and used to assess farmland property taxes — meaning the soil
productivity factors used for the March 1, 2011, assessment date will be used again
for the March 1, 2013, assessment date.
“This
legislation is all about helping the 62,000 farmers and their families in our
state and, in part, promoting agriculture, which is at the heart of Indiana’s
economy,” Leising said. “The 2012 proposed soil productivity factors could
cause a 15 to 45 percent increase in property tax payments for these residents,
depending on which counties they call home. I’m afraid that could put some of
our hard-working farmers out of business at a time when they may already be
struggling because of last summer’s drought.”
SB 319 would
also require the DLGF, with the Purdue University College of Agriculture, to
submit a report on proposed soil productivity factors by Nov. 1, 2013, to the
General Assembly for consideration.
For more
information on SB 319, click
here.
