From the Indianapolis Star:
In the end, Republicans at the Indiana General Assembly decided a tax cut was sustainable. They just didn’t endorse the 10 percent cut to individual income taxes championed by Gov. Mike Pence.
Legislative leaders instead plan to give him a 5 percent cut, gradually implemented through 2017.
House Speaker Brian Bosma today said Republican leaders have agreed to the largest tax cut in Hoosier history in the state’s two-year roughly $30 billion budget — a $1.1 billion give-back over four years that also includes corporate, inheritance and financial institutions taxes.
“We are very confident that Indiana will be one of the very few states that will say we’ve cut not only our employers’ taxes, taxes on Hoosier businesses, families at the time of death,” Bosma said, “but also our state’s income tax in a way that’s going to keep Indiana the fiscal envy of the nation and the job creation engine that we know it to be.”
Republicans for months have been questioning the sustainability of a tax cut. A revenue report issued last week showed the state in a healthy position, with $290 million more than expected over the next two years.
Pence issued a statement calling the budget agreement a great victory. The income tax rate will decrease from 3.4 percent to 3.3 percent in 2015 and again to 3.23 percent in 2017. That would equal an annual savings of $114 after 2017 for the typical Indiana family of four and $500 for a small business.
The inheritance tax will be repealed retroactive to Jan. 1.
In a process approved in 2012, the state's 8.5 percent corporate tax rate will continue to drop by 0.5 percentage point annually, starting this year, until it reaches 6.5 percent. The financial institutions tax will follow the same schedule.
“I am grateful for the leadership of Senate President Pro Tem David Long, Speaker Brian Bosma and other key fiscal leaders for working diligently with our administration to craft this historic package of tax relief,” Pence said. “Their efforts demonstrate the commitment of the General Assembly to put taxpayers first.”
...
See the full article here:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013304250060
