Porter sees a very mixed bag in family tax exemption legislation passed by the House

For immediate release:
Feb. 3, 2014

STATEHOUSE – State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) said legislation passed today in the Indiana House of Representatives offers one of the few chances that middle class families will realize any sort of tax relief during the 2014 legislative session.

House Bill 1211, approved by a 96-0 margin, requires that the income tax exemptions the state currently offers for individuals, dependents, the blind, and the elderly be adjusted annually according to the Consumer Price Index.

That proposal was enhanced by two additions offered by Porter when the legislation came before the House Ways & Means Committee, where he serves as ranking Democrat:

Increasing the income tax exemption that the state provides for families with children from $1,500 to $2,000 per child. This exemption is available to be claimed for each dependent child under the age of 19 or a full-time student under the age of 24.

Requiring that the annual increases in the exemptions in all categories be posted on the state’s new transparency portal.

“I am pleased that we were able to add these improvements to the bill, but in all, House Bill 1211 offers small potatoes in terms of genuine tax relief for Hoosiers who need it the most,” Porter said.

“The increase in the exemption for children offers some tax relief, but indexing all the exemptions will at best only offer a few pennies of relief each year.

“We certainly should be doing more for our middle class and folks on lower incomes, especially when you consider that the big ‘tax relief’ plan for this session is the elimination of the business personal property tax, a move that only benefits the very rich at the expense of homeowners, families, local units of government and schools,” he added.

During second reading debate on the legislation, Porter asked the House to consider improving House Bill 1211 by providing an increase in the state’s earned income tax credit from 9 to 10 percent. That move was rejected by the House Republican majority.

“It is particularly disappointing that this move did not find favor among representatives from the party of Ronald Reagan, who once hailed the earned income tax credit as ‘the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure’ that there was,” Porter said.

“President Reagan lauded the earned income tax credit because it has a proven track record of making sure that working people earning low wages can remain above the poverty level and keep from using publicly-funded assistance programs,” he noted. “Of course, it doesn’t help people in the corporate boardrooms, so it is easy for their advocates in the General Assembly to ignore efforts to help Hoosiers on middle- and lower-incomes.

“As we enter the second half of the 2014 session, I know that the majorities in the Indiana House and Senate will remain focused on their cherished business personal property tax cut, which should be called a ‘jobless creation program,’” Porter said.

“The seeds for what we should be doing in tax relief can be found in House Bill 1211, but we have to be doing much, much more in the weeks to come.”