At the request of County Councilman Kevin Vissing, the Clark County Council discussed the possibility of implementing a wheel tax and motor vehicle excise tax at their meeting Monday.
The discussion came on the heels of the budget bill passed by the Senate Appropriations committee at the Statehouse. The bill will now go to the full Senate for consideration, according to an e-mail distributed to the Indiana Association of County Commissioners obtained by the News and Tribune.
A provision in the budget bill would require that motor vehicle highway account distributions to a county and cities and towns in the county be frozen at fiscal year 2013 level unless the county has adopted a county motor vehicle excise surtax and wheel tax, and that the excise surtax be adopted at a rate that is at least 50 percent of the maximum rate.
“It’s not equitable,” Clark County Commissioners President Jack Coffman said in reference to the state withholding funds from counties without such taxes.
The minimum wheel tax would be $5, while the maximum motor vehicle excise tax to receive MVH funds would be $25. The bill provides for allowing county councils to enact and control the rate.
Vissing said the county could stand to get up to $2.5 million if it were to enact the taxes.
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