According to a May 25, 2008 article in the Indianapolis Star (“Most new tax bills are lower” Evans and Nichols), the final revision of 2007 property tax bills in Marion County are, on average, 21% higher than the 2006 bills. Keep in mind, our 2006 property taxes were the highest among the cities included in the Washington, D.C. tax burden comparison reporton the largest cities in each state.

The politicians brag that this is lower than the original flawed 2007 tax bills. Even though they are 21% more than the 2006 tax bills, they are 10% less than the original 2007 bills. According to the Star article, that is a “savings” of about $145 on average. Meanwhile, we are already paying an average of $267 more for the increased sales tax.

Furthermore, a report in the March 2000 National Tax Journal , "The Influence of Taxes on Employment and Population Growth: Evidence from the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area" (Mark, McGuire, and Papke), linked higher sales taxes to a reduction in employment growth – specifically, a 1% increase in sales tax reduces employment growth by 2.08 percentage points per year.

While our current property tax system is certainly in need of reform, the “relief” that the Republicans and Democrats have brought us amounts to relieving us of more of our money and jobs.