From the Richmond Palladium-Item:
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The Indiana chamber is “wholly supportive” of Common Core, Waltz said. Carter agreed, saying the standards provide “some degree of common comparison with other states.”
How Indiana fares in comparison with other states was a recurrent topic during the presentation. In his discussion of Indiana’s taxes, for example, Waltz said that though “we definitely have a very business-friendly tax climate,” commercial/industrial property taxes are “one of the areas where we do not compare well.”
Indiana taxes businesses on machinery and equipment in addition to real estate. That is not true of Ohio, Illinois or Michigan. Kentucky does tax but at a lower rate than Indiana.
“It doesn’t put us in a great position,” Waltz said. The chamber hopes to change that.
Other chamber ideas included:
• Switching from a tax on fuel consumption to one based on miles traveled, so fuel-efficient vehicles pay their share for highway maintenance and improvement;
• Allowing employers to ask if job candidates are smokers before they are hired, something now prohibited by state law;
• Extending the patent-derived income tax exemption to include the patent pending phase;
• Ending or strictly regulating lawsuit lending, in which a third party lends money to someone hoping to receive damages, often at rates that swallow up any settlement payment and more;
• Creating a “work sharing” program that would encourage employers to avoid layoffs but limit an employee’s hours, with partial unemployment payments making up the rest of the employee’s paycheck.
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http://www.pal-item.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013310300028
