Porter: House Republican supermajority says no to ending Indiana’s textbook tax

STATEHOUSE – Indiana House Republicans have stopped an effort to end our state’s onerous textbook tax, rejecting a proposal from State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) that would have provided immediate relief for hundreds of thousands of Hoosier families.

In refusing to accept an alternative biennial budget plan offered today by Porter, ranking Democrat on the House Ways & Means Committee, the House supermajority turned its back on a proposal that would have the state assume the cost of textbooks for students in Indiana’s public and non-accredited private schools.

“At a time when our middle class needs help the most, we have missed a golden opportunity to offer the kind of broad-based tax relief that can help families at all income levels,” Porter said.

“For years, we have asked families to foot the bill when it comes time to pay for the textbooks their children need to achieve in school,” he continued. “This textbook tax plays no favorites. For most of these families, the start of each new school year brings a new textbook bill that often can run into the thousands of dollars.

“The only relief that has been provided by this Legislature under Republican control has been the education expense tax deduction that was given to some families that have children in private schools or are home-schooled,” Porter noted.

“Already this session, we have seen that there is no interest in extending that deduction to parents of children in public schools. Now we see there is no interest in giving the middle class any kind of tax relief at all this year.”