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I live in Indianapolis. I have 2 cars. I support the tax being raised.
when is the last time any government taxing more and collecting more money has lead to actual benefits? the theft and misuse of our tax dollars have led to roads that are worse than the roads in Afghanistan.
Roads are terrible in Indy…we need an action plan. People must be saving money right now…check out
the number of expired license plates throughout the city.
It is mind boggling to see how many vehicles have expired tags. It is even more baffling how many people cannot read where to put the new stickers when they do get them!) If the police enforced the expired tags, the state and city would have new revenue.
Perhaps policing all of the cars driving around Marion County with expired, fake, or stolen temporary plates and making them actually register their cars would also raise revenue.
Quit putting in useless bus routes. Have police start arresting cars with fake temporary plates. None of those cars are even registered.
Quit putting in useless bus routes. Have police start arresting cars with fake temporary plates. None of those cars are never registered.
You want the police to arrest the cars?
How does eliminating public transportation (by the way, IndyGo paid for the reconstruction of College Ave, Meridian Street, 38th Street, and Washington Street, but that’s not convenient for you) and reducing the ability for the thousands of people who use it every day to get places fix the streets in any way, shape, or form? Genuinely interested in your thought process here.
yeah? who paid for IndyGo?
AR, I do believe every working person in Marion county has to pay a percentage of their income tax towards indygo.
I would be curious to see the ridership numbers on these bus rapid transit systems and if they’re meeting expectations. My guess would be no because the majority of the time the buses I’ve seen going around have at most one to two people on them.
Rea, if you are curious, the data is out there. Just because you see a bus that doesn’t look as full as you’d imagine every once in a while, does not make the endeavor a failure. I’m looking out my front yard onto Michigan St right now and there are no cars. Maybe we should just dig up the road and make my yard bigger so nobody is using it. See how silly that sounds?
Fix the roads. I’d be willing to pay more in taxes.
Why do Hoosiers pay so much for the fuel tax that goes up every year with no end? That was allocated for roads as well. We need better leadership not more fees.
Can we first inquire to how previous taxes, collected with the express purpose of improving roads, were used? Why must we pay still more?
Exactly. No plan just more taxes
It went to bike lanes and trails!!! Just like when Goldielock’s (Goldsmith) was mayor, money (like $60 million) that was SUPPOSED to be dedicated to IndyGo, he used instead on the downtown canal!!!
A much better idea would be to change the formula for road spending throughout the state, which is based on the length of roads rather than the volume of traffic. But that would mean getting the Republican supermajority in the state legislature to go along, spending more on the city then in the rural areas and small towns where most of their voters live.
They tried that this past General Assembly. It went NO WHERE!!!
Had friends in for the race thy could not believe how bad our roads are, embarrassing.
I will only drive one designated vehicle into Indy so I only have one vehicle that will need to have the alignment fixed each year.
Tatman D ~ Yes – there is a significant segment of the Indy population who prints their own “temporary tag” every two months and NEVER actually registers their vehicle. The city is able to send out plenty of Parking Meter Readers to give tickets. How about Illegal and Expired Tag Readers as well.
Parking enforcement are not city employees.
The current state formula is broken as the HTNB analysis showed, but, instead of a fix, the Indy-hating legislature made increased funding conditional on the county providing matching funds. Also, what about all the commuters that use Indy’s roads? There needs to be a commuter tax so those folks pay their fair share.
Exactly! We are the “Crossroads of America” which means a drive through. Figure out how the doughnut counties and the unregulated/overloaded semis kick in for this.
It must be nice to drive on pristine county roads .
Good points indeed. I would add that EVs pay no gas tax which is the primary funding mechanism for road funds.
My god, can we please get rid of this idiot and his inept administration. When was the last time he “delivered solutions” on anything? “We owe it to our community members to deliver solutions that invest in infrastructure without placing additional financial strain on hardworking families. It is my firm belief that the proposal announced today is not that solution,” Hogsett said in the statement.
Why is that statement problematic to you?
People get what they vote for, and as long as the stupid ass Dumocrap’s keep reelecting that dumbass, NOTHING is going to change!!! Same with the worthless excuse for a Prosecutor!! At this point, the voters of Marion County deserve everything they get from this totally worthless, and inept administration!!!
Somehow the city county council and mayor need to find a way to tax the commuters instead of putting the full financial burden on the residents. I am a commuter. I live in Carmel, and my business is in Indy. The state incentive is too great to pass on this. Great minds should be able to figure this out.
I’m surprised that the county has this much discretion with vehicle registration taxes. It’s common knowledge that cities get hosed in the state road funding formula, and it seems unfair that our gas taxes are going to make sure Green county has nice roads, but at some point, we need to give in and take the hit.
Additionally with, “low taxes” Braun at the helm trying to fix the Trump War gas price spikes by suspending the state gas tax, that revenue is going to drop even lower. Plus, I’ve only purchased about $100 worth of gas for my plug in hybrid this year, resulting in yet lower gas tax revenues.
I worked at a major employer and I estimate that 70% of the employees lived outside of Marion county, so it sucks that we have to implement a local tax, but the state has proved time and again that Indiana cites will get no help at the state level.
The worst part of this is that as the price of plates goes up, there will be more expired and fake temporary tags to avoid the extra fees.
If my roads get better, bring it on.
Maybe instead of TIF’ing everything they should keep the property tax money in the general fund so they have money for roads. Developers increase road usage AND keep the tax money
There would not be development, Gregg.
That’s THE dumbest thing I’ve heard yet!!! Evidently, you want NO police OR fire protection, because that’s where a good part of property taxes go, is to help fund those services!!!
This is complete absurd. The excise taxes each year are outrageous, the roads in Indiana have been neglected for decades and the only solution by loser City Council members is tax more to fix it. Fire them all. Give Ohio or other states a call for a solution because whether it’s the decade long I-70 construction or every major interchange being torn apart after a few years of bad design (I-465 and Rt 31) etc. this is all on the politicians and extortion of road construction engineers.
What does the city county council have to do with construction projects on state-managed roads?
Exactly Michael N. The city county shouldn’t be proposing any new taxes for roads.
You’re conflating State-owned infrastructure with locally-owned infrastructure, which don’t share management structures.
It would be more equitable to roll ever car entering Marion county on a freeway and use that revenue on Marion county roads.
Ok, people, time out! Let’s say you want to go to the sparkling new $15 million City Market Plaza. Don’t you want nice roads to get there?
I don’t care about the roads, really, I’ll just walk or bike from my home using the cultural trail. I would point out that Market St itself is pristine as it was completely re-bricked just a couple years ago.
These increased taxes will most likely be funneled to creating spaces for criminals to loiter while our roads remain in shambles.
Quiet, the grown ups are talking
The “Cultural Trail” there’s another $100+ million dollars WASTED that was SUPPOSED to go towards fixing the roads!!!
The cultural trail is a world class amenity that many other cities are jealous of and try to replicate, Matt. You’d probably be a lot less angry if you took a bike ride on it sometime
Moving from 29 (Hamilton County) to 49 (Marion County) has been… an adventure.
In Hamilton County, the roads are smooth enough to drink coffee while driving.
In Marion County, every street feels like an off‑road suspension stress test designed by someone who hates cars.
But honestly, the roads aren’t even the biggest issue.
It’s the parade of fake tags, expired tags, and “I’ll renew it someday” tags cruising around like it’s optional.
So here’s my question:
Why should the people who do pay their registration keep getting nickel‑and‑dimed…
…while a whole chunk of drivers aren’t paying anything at all?
If the city actually enforced tag laws — and wrote tickets for the fraudulent and expired plates everywhere — they’d probably hit their road budget quota in a year.
Instead, we’re talking about adding a few more cents to residents who already pay.
Maybe start with the folks who aren’t paying anything.
Because currently, IMPD is too damn busy literally running from one call to another due to being understaffed by over 300 officers!!! Literally, as soon as a car marks in from one run, there are 2 or 3 more waiting!! They don’t have time to go around looking for cars with expired/fake tags!! Try doing a ride along, just once, and you’ll see for yourself.
Moving from 29 (Hamilton County) to 49 (Marion County) has been… an adventure.
In Hamilton County, the roads are smooth enough to drink coffee while driving.
In Marion County, every street feels like an off‑road suspension stress test designed by someone who hates cars.
But honestly, the roads aren’t even the biggest issue.
It’s the parade of fake tags, expired tags, and “I’ll renew it someday” tags cruising around like it’s optional.
So here’s my question:
Why should the people who do pay their registration keep getting nickel‑and‑dimed…
…while a whole chunk of drivers aren’t paying anything at all?
If the city actually enforced tag laws — and wrote tickets for the fraudulent and expired plates everywhere — they’d probably hit their road budget quota in a year.
Instead, we’re talking about adding a few more cents to residents who already pay.
Maybe start with the folks who aren’t paying anything.
Moving from 29 (Hamilton County) to 49 (Marion County) has been… an adventure.
In Hamilton County, the roads are smooth enough to drink coffee while driving.
In Marion County, every street feels like an off‑road suspension stress test designed by someone who hates cars.
But honestly, the roads aren’t even the biggest issue.
It’s the parade of fake tags, expired tags, and “I’ll renew it someday” tags cruising around like it’s optional.
So here’s my question:
Why should the people who do pay their registration keep getting nickel‑and‑dimed…
…while a whole chunk of drivers aren’t paying anything at all?
If the city actually enforced tag laws — and wrote tickets for the fraudulent and expired plates everywhere — they’d probably hit their road budget quota in a year.
Instead, we’re talking about adding a few more cents to residents who already pay.
Maybe start with the folks who aren’t paying anything.
A primary job of the mayor’s office is to provide adequate infrastructure. Good roads is one of those visible and key components of infrastructure. What we have now is abysmal and hazardous. It will take an extraordinary effort to get the roads back in a state of repair. It is apparent the problem is two pronged 1) a poor road material and 2) not enough money or teams being deployed simultaneously. A very large bond will be needed to address this. How the debt service is paid whether through a wheet tax, COIT or some other debt service mechanism is relevant once everyone aligns on the need to really solve the problem.