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 Post subject: None dare call it corrupt or bad faith by the GOP
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:11 am 
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House votes to unfreeze Lake property tax revenues
April 11, 2013 Dan Carden dan.carden@nwi.com, (317) 637-9078

INDIANAPOLIS | The Indiana House has agreed to remove a state-imposed limit on the amount of property tax revenue local governments in Lake County can collect, regardless of whether the county enacts an income tax.

The General Assembly in 2007 punished Lake County for being the lone holdout refusing to impose a county income tax. The punishment included not allowing local governments in the county to take in more money than they received that year until the county enacted at least a 1 percent income tax, an action known as the levy freeze.

As a result, Lake County as well as its city, town and township governments have been forced to cut their spending by a combined 17 percent, according to state Rep. Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell.

"Who in this room really cares whether or not Lake County imposes a tax or not; it's their business," Slager said. "Why do we want to compel someone to impose a tax?"

Under questioning by state Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, Slager said he's not trying to derail the County Council's upcoming second vote for an income tax, he just wants the levy freeze removed even if the income tax attempt fails.
Brown and state Rep. Shelli VanDenburgh, D-Crown Point, urged representatives to reject Slager's proposal because it may cause the council to give up on enacting an income tax...

The House approved Slager's proposal on a voice vote.
-----------------------

From the Miller Citizens case, 820 N.E.2d 1240 (2005): As we held in Kimsey, under Section 23, a law limited to a given county is prohibited unless "there are inherent characteristics of the affected locale that justify local legislation." Kimsey, 781 N.E.2d at 692. If the affected county reflects unique circumstances that rationally justify the legislation, then a general law is not "applicable" elsewhere and Section 23 is not violated."

As writes Carden, "The General Assembly in 2007 punished Lake County for being the lone holdout refusing to impose a county income tax. "

As observed by everyone in the State of Indiana, except for county council attorney Ray Szarmach (at least publicly), under any test of constitutionality it is unlikely that "punishment" qualifies as a circumstance or condition legally justifying the demand for at least one percent local income tax - in order unfreeze the levy.

What's more, at Tuesday's county council meeting, attorney Szarmach repeatedly stressed that the imposition of a one-percent under IC 6-1.1-18.5-2, Assessed value growth quotient; Lake County determination had been researched and the law was unchallengeable as to its constitutionality. Szarmach insisted he was "right" on this. Funny, back in 2010:

NWInd Times Thu Nov 18, 2010 5:51 pm

CROWN POINT | Lake County (democrat) officials may sue for the repeal of a state law that punishes local governments here for the county's refusal to pass a personal income tax.

John Dull, Lake Board of Commissioners attorney, reported to the board Wednesday that he and Anthony Overholt, an Indianapolis lawyer working for the Lake County Council, have concluded after weeks of legal research that a lawsuit might succeed in freeing county, township and municipal government to collect tens of millions of dollars of additional property taxes they now are denied under a punitive state law.

Commissioners Fran DuPey, D-Hammond, and Gerry Scheub, D-Hammond, said they are eager to challenge the law.Council President Tom O'Donnell, D-Dyer, said Wednesday he hadn't heard of any recent talk about litigation, but said he would support it.

Dull said the litigation would be unrelated to the property tax caps, which voters put into the state constitution through a Nov. 2 referendum. The caps place a ceiling on how much individual property owners can be taxed each year.


Or, From the Post-Trib dateline 11/18/2010 8:51:00 AM
Lake County to sue over state's income tax demand

by Chelsea Schneider Kirk

The Lake County Board of Commissioners plans to sue the state of Indiana contesting the law requiring the county to adopt a 1 percent income tax before the freeze on its levy can be lifted.

Commissioners' Attorney John Dull expects the county to file suit shortly after the December Lake County Council meeting, where council members will be asked if they want to join in the litigation.

Dull told the county commissioners at their meeting on Wednesday they have standing to sue. (Szarmach claimed Tuesday that the county lacked standing)

"So let's go," County Commissioner Gerry Scheub, D-Merrillville, said in response. "This is the most intelligent way to go."


But we all know, don't we? Just as soon as it seemed inevitable that the largely GOP & DINOs of south Lake County might have to chip-in, well, they'd quickly bring to abrupt end any continued basis for an income tax.

I don't know about you, but I seriously question the authenticity of Scheub's and Szarmach's commitment to challenging the state statute.


Last edited by Neometric on Thu Apr 11, 2013 9:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: None dare call it corrupt or bad faith by the GOP
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 3:16 pm 
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Senator faces decision on lifting Lake levy freeze
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INDIANAPOLIS | The decision on whether the Lake County property tax levy freeze is lifted, even if the county doesn't enact an income tax, is now in the hands of state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/e9494f9b-d0a4-5042-9677-00afa7e0cc80.html

We shall see...

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 Post subject: Re: None dare call it corrupt or bad faith by the GOP
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:07 pm 
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chuckmo48 wrote:
Senator faces decision on lifting Lake levy freeze
Quote:
INDIANAPOLIS | The decision on whether the Lake County property tax levy freeze is lifted, even if the county doesn't enact an income tax, is now in the hands of state Sen. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso.

http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/e9494f9b-d0a4-5042-9677-00afa7e0cc80.html

We shall see...

Hey Stupid,

You never seem to make a peep when democRATS jack your taxes

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 Post subject: Re: None dare call it corrupt or bad faith by the GOP
PostPosted: Thu Apr 11, 2013 6:14 pm 
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Meanwhile at the White House in Washington DC, democRATS of all stripe try to ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room...


Obama Says His Predicted Deficit Spending Was Off By $1.6 Trillion
Image
Only $1.6 trillion? Maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on him.

Quote:
When President Obama released his first budget — entitled with no hint of irony, “A New Era of Responsibility” — he projected that deficit spending over the next five fiscal years (2010-14) would total $3.767 trillion. Now, Obama has released his fifth budget (which doesn’t seem to have a name). In it, he says that deficit spending over that same 5-year span (2010-14) will instead total $5.398 trillion. (This includes three years that are already on the books — see Table 1.1.) So Obama now admits that his original 5-year projection was off by $1,631,000,000,000.00 — or 43 percent.

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