From the Northwest Indiana Times:
Lake County is one step closer to a local income tax.
The Lake County Council approved a 1.5 percent assessment on the personal income of all county residents Tuesday by a 4-3 vote. Voting in favor were council members David Hamm, D-Hammond; Ted Bilski, D-Hobart; Jerome Prince, D-Gary; and Elsie Franklin, D-Gary. Voting against were Dan Dernulc, R-Highland; Eldon Strong, R-Crown Point; and Christine Cid, D-East Chicago.
The Democratic majority on the fiscal body except for Councilwoman Cid voted in favor of the trio of taxes earmarked for property tax relief, public safety and economic development.
They argued the tax is a necessary evil and their past resistance has been overcome by Republican-inspired state laws that reduced business-related tax revenues that have sustained local government in past years. County officials have shrunken their payrolls by 350 jobs in recent years and are reluctant to slash more.
The two Republican council members along with Cid, a Democrat, voted against the taxes, arguing county government spending must shrink further.
The measure is expected to generate more than $90 million that must be shared around the county in the form of property tax credits that would primarily benefit suburban property owners and build local government budgets, primarily those in the county's urban north.
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If passed a second time, the tax proposal goes before the county government's executive branch. Two of the three-member Board of Commissioners have indicated they would veto the taxes as an unfair imposition on working men and women.
If so, the council would need five votes to override the veto and enact the taxes.
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http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/lake-county-council-passes-income-tax-on-first-reading/article_6f7dcee5-9f68-536d-9315-997445abdfb5.html
An earlier article described the taxes:
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What kinds of taxes are being proposed?
Three: A 1 percent County Adjusted Gross Income Tax; a 0.25 percent Public Safety Income Tax; and a 0.25 percent County Economic Development Income Tax.
The 1 percent part of the tax is earmarked by state law to provide property tax relief. The current language of the council's tax ordinance restricts that relief to a homeowner's principal residence. Landlords, renters and businesses are left out. However, many homeowners in East Chicago, Gary, Griffith, Hammond, Lake Station and Whiting already get the most tax relief allowed under state law through the so-called circuit breaker, which caps the taxes imposed on any single parcel per year. The income tax money for their communities would be channeled into the city hall budgets.
Residents of other communities would receive varying property tax reductions depending on the percentage of their property tax devoted to county government operations.
The 0.25 percent public safety tax is restricted to salary and benefits for police, firefighters, emergency medical services, operating the county jail including medical care for inmates and the juvenile detention center, and an E-911 communications system.
The 0.25 percent economic development tax can be spent "for any lawful purpose" under state law. That could include government employee health care and infrastructure such as roads, bridges and drainage waterways.
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See the full article here:
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/lake-county-income-tax-presents-so-many-options/article_ab05acec-4557-5307-8803-04b2356e5fc9.html
