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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Senate voted early Tuesday morning to send the House’s version of a high-profile property tax bill to the governor, passing legislation that has been criticized both for not providing enough homeowner relief and for reducing revenue for local governments.
Senate Bill 1 now moves to Gov. Mike Braun’s desk for his consideration. He has previously threatened to veto the bill if it doesn’t meet his homeowner-relief expectations. However, he said in a written statement after its passage that he looks forward to signing the bill “as soon as he receives it.”
About 20 minutes after midnight, the Senate approved the House’s changes, preventing it from landing in a conference committee where further amendments could have been made. Senators approved the bill 27-22, with Democrats and a dozen Republicans voting in dissent.
Lawmakers were in session for about nine hours Monday to consider and amend 21 bills with a combined 172 filed amendments. The chamber capped off the night with more than an hour and 45 minutes of debate before the property tax concurrence vote.
“This is historic property tax relief,” Braun said in his statement. “Senate Bill 1 cuts property taxes for most Hoosier homeowners, farmers, and businesses, limits future tax hikes, and makes the tax system fairer, more transparent, and easier to understand. Real property tax relief was a core promise of my Freedom and Opportunity Agenda and with the collaborative leadership of our legislators, we are delivering real savings and protections for taxpayers.”
State leaders have sought to strike a balance between homeowner relief while maintaining funding of local governments, which largely rely on property tax revenue to operate critical services. The bill has since gone through two major “strip-and-insert” revisions to land on the current version.
“Senate Bill 1 in its current form has been the work of many hours of discussion and refinement in the end of two years of a long study regarding taxation,” said Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, who originally introduced this bill in January. “Property taxes are very complicated in the state of Indiana. It’s taken the Legislature 50 years to make it as complicated as we possibly could.”
Under the bill, about two-thirds of homeowners’ bills are expected to be cheaper in 2026 than in 2025. Altogether, homeowners would see about $1.3 billion in relief over three years.
Conversely, local governments could have about $1.5 billion less to spend over the next three years. Without a revenue replacement option, leaders have warned that employee salaries, public infrastructure projects and other services could be curbed.
The bill still has loud opponents who say the bill doesn’t go far enough to provide homeowner relief and is too complicated.
That includes Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith. In an X post Saturday, he said Braun should veto the bill and call a special session to pass legislation that “the average Hoosier can understand without hiring army of lawyers and accountants.” 1If Braun were to veto the bill, the General Assembly could override his decision with a simple majority vote in both the House and Senate.
“I’ve heard criticism about how complicated this bill is,” Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesvile, said Monday on the floor. “I stipulate it’s very complicated, but with a complicated system, it begs to demand a complicated solution.”
The governor and legislative leaders have for weeks gone back and forth on SB 1’s contents. Last week, the House struck a compromise with Braun by passing an amendment increasing some immediate relief.
Homeowners have felt the pinch after property tax bills spiked thanks to market-driven assessed value increases during the pandemic-era housing boom. In 2023, property tax bills increased by an average of 17%, according to an analysis by tax expert Larry DeBoer.
SB 1’s headline measure is a 10% tax credit, with a maximum impact of $300. The credit would be applied to all homeowners’ tax bills, including those that hit the state’s 1% tax cap.
For example, if a home’s assessed value is $400,000, the new $300 tax credit and the 1% tax cap would mean a homeowner would not pay more than $3,700. That number may fluctuate slightly depending on other tax credits or additional tax rates approved by voters at a municipal level.
The House’s plan also includes a previously introduced proposal to reform how the state collects property taxes, a contentious charter school revenue-sharing bill and credits for vulnerable Hoosier taxpayers.
The potential property tax revenue in Indiana’s 92 counties over the next three years is expected to be reduced by more than $1 billion under the plan. But the bill also includes changes and additions to the state’s local income tax system, which local government leaders could use to combat drops in property tax revenue.
Critics of the property tax bill say local governments will simply raise income taxes to make up the difference. Rep. Ed DeLaney, D-Indianapolis, last week said the bill would allow local governments to raise income taxes by three times more than the amount homeowners would save in property taxes.
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This bill is yet another bailout for the Boomer’s who have hoarded both real estate AND political capital, locking subsequent generations out of home ownership through NIMBYism and onerous zoning laws. Now, they complain that they can’t afford the giant homes that they refuse to downsize from and free up for growing families, so the rest of us will get an income tax increase and even more under-funded government services that we rely on, like schools. Lovely.
this is government at work. anyone who thinks they will fix anything is delusional.
If you don’t like what boomers have, go out and do what they did: EARN IT!
Boomers had all the advantages in the world.
Parents who could do just fine on one income.
Government that invested in both education and infrastructure.
You’re pulling the ladder up behind you and intentionally dismissing the sacrifices your ancestors made.
Classic Boomer take, Dominic. Can’t engage on the substance because you know its correct, so you just default to telling the rest of us to “pick ourselves up by our bootstraps” or whatever the corny phrase du jour is.
Dominic – Millenials and Genz are actually working twice as much as the boomer generation since they are factually 3.5x as efficient with the modern technology available to us. Unfortunately we are all paid 1/2 of what your generation was even though we are producing multiples more output.
You did not earn it – you were basically gifted it. Now all the profits are distributed upwards instead of evenly
Frankie, they want “the good old days” but never want the marginal tax rates that enabled those good old days.
Michael N.; you offered no substance whatsoever, just the typical whines of the entitled “give me a trophy for showing up” generation.
Perhaps you can explain this: https://fortune.com/2025/03/28/millennials-richest-generation-on-record-great-wealth-transfer-from-baby-boomers/ Maybe we should leave it charity instead.
I don’t think that article is showing what you think it does.
Shows me the impact of decades of tax cuts; in past generations, that money would have been invested in future generations of society at large. Better roads, affordable college, the list goes on.
Now? My second and third home! My trophy car! No one ever helped me! I did it all myself! And it all should only go to my ancestors, because they … deserve it most, right?
And they say the kids these days are selfish. Wonder where they might be learning that from.
Assuming this “$300” tax break is signed, you can look forward to a massive increase in your local taxes – probably $1000, to pay for it.
They didn’t do a single thing they promised. This doesn’t reduce the tax burden on anyone.
Braun = RINO
Don’t blame Braun, blame the people who voted for him.
100% facts. Idk why people still believe in politics in 2025. Only politician ive noticed so far thats trying to do everything they campaigned on is Trump. No matter good or bad, he’s doing everything he said he would do.
Which is why I am mystified by the people who voted for Trump but didn’t think he would do he said he would do. He made it very clear he was going to take a wrecking ball to everything, consequences be damned.
I’m just waiting on his he will spin not touching social services with a budget framework that has no choice but to touch them.
As for Trump doing everything he campaigned on; he promised everything to everybody, and so far he seems to be doing it, often multiple times in one week.
The result is a an amazing turn around in a booming Biden economy to one heading for a Trump recession.
Are we winning bigly!?!
Nothing was done to slow down assessment increases that will quickly negate a $300.00 tax credit .
Absolutely correct!
This is like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. The reduction is tax revenue is going to have to be replaced since there is no plan to reduce spending.
Move to Florida. No state income tax and much better weather too! Republican state as well.
Floridian’s will be moving this way before long. I can send winter coat recommendations.
The average property tax rate in Florida is 0.82%. Indiana’s average is 0.77%. Florida taxes billions of tourist dollars to make up for the lack of income tax. That would be impossible to replicate here in Indiana.
The Wall Street Journal just ran an article about some people who moved from Carmel to Florida and found out they didn’t save anything because of higher home prices and the sky high insurance rates there.
https://www.wsj.com/personal-finance/taxes/retirement-low-tax-rate-states-move-cabdb31b
I see class warfare is alive and well from all of the comments, but we all do seem to agree to the total ineptitude of the Indiana General Assembly. What a joke.