Indiana’s property tax system is broken, Indiana Farm Bureau (IFB) President Don Villwock told reporters at a news conference on Aug. 15, held on Farmers Day at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis, Ind.

“We are encouraging our legislators to fix the problem and not to put a Band-Aid on this terrible catastrophe that we are facing across the state,” Villwock added.

The news conference was part of an IFB effort to bring the property tax issue to the public during the fair. During the fair, Farm Bureau has been collecting signatures on a petition that will be sent to state leadership and also offering fairgoers a chance to fill out postcards that will be mailed to Statehouse legislators. As of Aug. 15, more than 3,000 signatures had been collected.

“The state doesn’t have enough fingers to plug all the holes in the dike to fix this problem,” said Kendell Culp, IFB’s District 3 director and a grain and livestock farmer from Jasper County.

“You know, the dike’s not seeping; it’s ready to give way. The flood’s coming, the water’s going to spill over, and we’re all going to get washed away. The time is now to act on this issue.”

IFB Vice President Randy Kron, who farms in Vanderburgh County, where he is also a township trustee-assessor, said that his taxes went up 40 percent this year, but added that he knows other people were hit even worse.

“I think it’s wrong to have a tax that in one year can go up 50, 75, 100 percent in one year. It just makes it a nightmare to budget. If you’re in business or whether you’re a homeowner, how do you plan and budget your cash flow?” he said.

Villwock noted that the thing about property taxes is that they bear no relation to taxpayers’ ability to pay. Senior citizens on fixed incomes owe property taxes even when those taxes rise, and farmers can’t raise the price they get on their corn, soybeans, hogs or cattle to compensate for higher property taxes.

Villwock added that Indiana Farm Bureau has been asking for permanent property tax relief since at least 1931, when IFB members staged a property tax protest on the Circle in downtown Indianapolis.

“To taxpayers that are experiencing this for the first time, welcome to the debate,” said Culp, who is also a Jasper County commissioner. “Farmers have experienced this for a long time – agriculture feels your pain.”

IFB is asking the General Assembly to remove entire levies – for example, school funding – from the property tax roles, and replace it with some combination of sales and income tax, taxes that are more closely reflect the individual taxpayer’s ability to pay.