Indiana Property Tax Reform: More to Come?

The ink is barely dry on Indiana's much-ballyhooed property tax rebate legislation, and some elected officials are already saying that a crisis has not been avoided-- merely postponed. Here's Keith Benman's lede in the Northwest Indiana Times:

At least one Northern Indiana state legislator thinks a looming property tax uprising in the rest of the state could prompt Gov. Mitch Daniels to call a special session of the General Assembly to do real property tax reform.

Rep. Chet Dobis says he fears that if lawmakers don't come up with something more permanent fast, angry homeowners might do it for them:

"In a year or so we will be at the point where we will have no choice," Dobis said. "And it will be a push from the bottom, not from the top."

Matt Greller of the state Association of Cities and Counties echoes this viewpoint:

"If anyone is under the impression we solved the property tax issue, I don't think we did," Greller said. "We just put a Band-Aid on it."

Asked to respond to Dobis' concerns, a representative for Gov. Daniels said that "there are no...plans" for a special legislative session to deal with the property tax issue. Stay tuned...