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Indiana closes year with $2.1B in cash reserves

Associated Press
July 12, 2012
Keywords
Government, Government & Economic Development, Revenue Forecast, State Budget, State Government, Taxes
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Indiana's state government is sitting on cash reserves of $2.15 billion following a year of continued budget cuts and improved tax collections.

That number is larger than what Gov. Mitch Daniels estimated last week and will send more to the state teacher's pension fund and in tax credits to Indiana taxpayers. State auditor Tim Berry released the detailed figures Thursday for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Berry said much of that reserve was built from tax collections which grew by 6.4 percent over the previous year. The Daniels administration also cut $316 million in spending.

The budget wrap-up also accounts for more than a half-billion dollars in tax collection mistakes discovered by the Daniels administration which balanced out to roughly $200 million more for the state last year.

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  • TrustFund
    fkgazaJuly 16, 2012 12:05 AM
    The law should be that it goes in a trust fund that draws interest. The other law should be that you cannot run a negative budget---hey, isnt that the law already???
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • Well put!
    JohnnyJuly 12, 2012 9:40 PM
    Well put! I was wondering the same thing.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • OVERTAXED
    FRANKJuly 12, 2012 9:23 PM
    This is proof that Hoosiers are paying too much taxes to the state government.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • OVERTAXED
    FRANKJuly 12, 2012 9:23 PM
    This is proof that Hoosiers are paying too much taxes to the state government.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
  • ?
    Aaron M. RennJuly 12, 2012 3:48 PM
    I find it interesting that a couple years ago when the state cut about $300 million out of K-12 education then governor and others talked about the need to make painful choices (true) and that they didn't want to make those cuts but had to. Now, with a huge surplus, there's no talk of restoring those cuts, but instead mailing out $100 rebates. I think this shows that perhaps the cuts to education and other services weren't quite so reluctant as portrayed. It's certainly legitimate to want to cut spending for any sorts of reasons, but you should at least be up front that it's want you want to do, not what you are being forced to do.
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment
    • MrGadget
      TravisJuly 12, 2012 3:01 PM
      If that is so, then the people of Indiana need to stand up and tell the state that rather than getting $100 back they would rather have the extra funding to to businesses or education. I would be in favor of letting mine go if it ends up having a larger positive influence elsewhere, but most people would just rather have their money... :( P.S. I am a heavily indebted college student, not some rich man who considers $100 to be pocket change.
      Reply to CommentFlag Comment
    • Someone Needs to Get the Facts Straight
      GFMJuly 12, 2012 2:57 PM
      Wait a minute! How do you report a $2.1B in cash surplus in one article, and in another state that the State's reserves are nearly depleted? Come on IBJ, really?
      Reply to CommentFlag Comment
    • .
      DRTJuly 12, 2012 2:20 PM
      I agree with you MrGadget, however giving a $100 rebate isn't like giving a man a fish. It's more like giving the man back one of the fish from his net that was seized.
      Reply to CommentFlag Comment
    • .
      DRTJuly 12, 2012 2:20 PM
      I agree with you MrGadget, however giving a $100 rebate isn't like giving a man a fish. It's more like giving the man back one of the fish from his net that was seized.
      Reply to CommentFlag Comment
    • No Rebates
      MrGadgetJuly 12, 2012 1:08 PM
      Giving $100 rebates is like giving a man a fish. Using that same $360 million of the surplus to reduce burden on business would do so much more by creating / expanding opportunities for the taxpayer to catch their own fish over and over. Business Property Taxes, Corporate Tax Rates, punitive fees targeted at business sectors...lower any of these burdens and business can translate that savings into jobs, benefits, and lower prices for their goods and services. Lower prices and higher wages increases consumer spending, which fuels the economy, while broadening the base from which consumption tax revenue is collected Business pays nothing, consumers pay everything. This will always be true. It is not possible to alter this reality through legislation / taxation. The price of a good or service has these burdens built in. The salaries and benefits of workers (a.k.a consumers) are suppressed by these burdens. The ability to hire more workers is stifled by these burdens. Businesses compete for better workers with better compensation and these burdens force an artificial ceiling on compensation due to market value limits on the goods and services produced: the typical consumer will not pay $10 for a potato, thus potato farm workers can't be paid $50 / hour. You get the idea. Temporary tax holidays don't work either. Business needs predictability in the long term. They won't hire someone for 6 months, only to let them go as soon as the burdens return. Instead, cut the burdens in a permanent fashion, so they can project cost versus revenue more clearly for the future.
      Reply to CommentFlag Comment
      • Re: Bad Math
        Casey McGaugheyJuly 12, 2012 12:54 PM
        Yep - all Indiana businesses should be due a refund of the extra unemployment taxes we all paid to create this "surplus". What a joke. IBJ, any plans to run a follow up story on the unemployment taxes?
        Reply to CommentFlag Comment
      • DETAILS
        scepticJuly 12, 2012 12:53 PM
        Details are needed. Education is hurting, Someone said Unemployment is hurting, but what about giving out incentives to make new companies and bring companies here to our great state of Indiana? credit those who want to build and create for indiana so the brain drain doesn't happen as much.
        Reply to CommentFlag Comment
      • Bad Math
        jjJuly 12, 2012 12:31 PM
        I am confused, the state owes the feds 2 billion for unemployment insurance, and has cut millions out of public education. So, I am not sure where ths surplus can be found. This is typical of the clouds of deception that has existed during my man's administration. Although, I should not be suprised, this is how he ran OMB. Good luck PU you are in for a misrable 5 years. Go Mitch, just go.
        Reply to CommentFlag Comment
        • Bad Math
          jjJuly 12, 2012 12:31 PM
          I am confused, the state owes the feds 2 billion for unemployment insurance, and has cut millions out of public education. So, I am not sure where ths surplus can be found. This is typical of the clouds of deception that has existed during my man's administration. Although, I should not be suprised, this is how he ran OMB. Good luck PU you are in for a misrable 5 years. Go Mitch, just go.
          Reply to CommentFlag Comment
        • Super Bowl effect?
          DRTJuly 12, 2012 12:07 PM
          I wonder if this has a lot to do with hosting the superbowl? If so it really shows what a positive economic impact this has on a city. I would be interested to see some analysis on that.
          Reply to CommentFlag Comment

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        1. Many serial killer types and psychopaths work as lowly bureaucrats, just waiting to impose their wrath on a powerless person, child, or pet. Don't forget, the BTK killer was a dog catcher.

        2. If a television station wants to improve viewership, get rid of the local blackout. I was born by the brickyard, and have attended 15 or more races. I have children now, I won't attend unless circumstances are perfect. As those with growing families know, they never are. I'm always impressed that upwards of 250,000 people attend the 500. However, as a growing, or, more apt, sprawling city, Indianapolis and its immediate suburbs count almost 2.2 million. Show the race live, let the venue get a kick-back on revenues, and open-wheel racing might have a fighting chance to be relevant again. Just in time for those tax-payer lights to make sense.

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