A Bad Idea Resurfaces

Proponents of a plan to repeal all Indiana property taxes held a rally yesterday. The Courier-Journal reports that about 600 people showed up to push for outright repeal of local property taxes statewide.

As is generally true of folks who want to destroy the village in order to save it, it's not at all clear why outright repeal is the best fix for what ails Indiana property taxes-- or even why it's a good fix.

Eric Miller, whose organization Advance America has been in the lead of the "repeal all property taxes" movement, is quoted simply as saying "You deserve the right to repeal property taxes." Which is undeniably true, but doesn't explain at all why it's a good thing to do.

The state legislature isn't helping matters: the Courier-Journal's Lesley Steadman reports that the Senate voted yesterday to create a study commission on how to repeal local property taxes. This is obviously less harmful than if they'd just gone ahead and voted to repeal them immediately, but is stiull bad enough, because it gives an inherently bad idea more of a platform for discussion than it needs. Let's hope this idea enjoys the fate typically reserved for topics of "tax study commissions"-- residence on a dusty bookshelf.