Governor Mike Braun spoke to farmers and ag professionals in downtown Indy Tuesday morning as part of the Indiana Corn Marketing Council and Indiana Soybean Alliance Livestock Summit. Property taxes were top of mind for producers.
“I’m not going to rule out anything,” Braun told the crowd. “But in the meantime, I think some of it will be addressed through the appeal process.”
Some farmers across Indiana have seen a 300% surge in their property tax bills because of their assessments on barns and grain facilities.
Not ruling out anything means fixing the issue at the Statehouse during the upcoming legislative or even an executive order if it comes to that.
“We’ve got good individuals, I think, that can address it. In the meantime, you need to appeal it. We’re aware of it. If we need to change it structurally, that’s the kind of stuff I feel comfortable with. We need to get it right. But just remember, you didn’t have these issues from the mid to late ’80s until inflation was unleashed at the place that generally causes us all a lot of grief and issues. It’s navigating that relationship with the federal government.”
Unfortunately, the deadline for appealing your assessment has passed. June 15th was the cutoff.
After speaking on stage, he told HAT of a potential fix to the issue, but he wants farmers to continue to speak out to legislators.
“Many of these buildings are 30, 40 years old. So, you basically have a fully depreciated asset, which now, if you’re building a new one, there’s going to be a big difference. Maybe we need to look at homogenizing that in a way that you’re not hit with all of it at once. And that, again, is the gift of inflation we got from the prior administration. We’ll get through it. I know farming. I told everyone there I’m going to help them as much as I can.”
