Property Tax Protest Draws Angry Homeowners
(Sylvan Lake - WANE) Some angry homeowners pitched their tax assessments into Sylvan Lake Sunday afternoon. It was part of a symbolic Indiana Tea Party, that called for complete abolishment of property taxes. “Since 2004, my bills have gone up 300%,” says Noble County resident, Hugh Eshelman, one of about 100 people gathered at Sylvan Lake public access for the protest. After stuffing their property assessments from the state government into an oversized “tea bag”, the protesters watched as a representative from Hoosiers For Fair Taxation dunked the bag into the lake.
The protesters hope the soggy assessments will send a message to state legislators. “The state passes the buck. It’s not the local legislators,” says Noble County homeowner, Dave Schermerhorn. “The state needs to get on the stick and pass some fair and equitable property tax laws so we all pay a just amount.”
The Indianapolis group Hoosiers For Fair Taxation organized the event. It’s goal is not convince law makers to lower real estate taxes, but to get rid of them completely. “We are accepting nothing less than total repeal of all property tax in Indiana and we are not going away until we get what we want,” says an event organizer, Melyssa Donaghy.
The group says raising state sales tax from the current 6% to 23% would make up for lost property tax income. They say it would also be more fair. “If you got a complete sales tax, that includes everybody,” explains Noble County homeowner Pam Baker.
While not all of the protesters agreed getting rid of property taxes is the answer to increased property taxes, they did all agree on one thing, as another event organizer, Michael Friskney put it, “There’s got to be a better way than what they’re doing right now.”
Hoosiers For Fair Taxation has future events planned in South Bend and Indianapolis. For more information click here.
By Sylvan Lake - WANE
Related Posts
- Don’t dip into surplus for tax relief
- Big Property Tax Cut for Dearborn County Homeowners
- Huge Property Tax Cut for Morgan County Homeowners
- Bayh-Hill Property Tax Relief Legislation Set To Become Law
- Indiana Apartment Association Seeks Tax Reform
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Im not sure if I am writing this to the right place ,but I need some help.I have two house we use as rentals in n vermillion co.Indiana.The assessment of the property taxes went up 40,000 dollars.We have had them up for sell by owner for a year for 99,000 for both houses.We just listed them with a realtor a few days before I appealed the taxes.I went to the court house and ask them if we could use this appraisal from the realitor.They said that should be ok.We went to the hearing and they also said that should work.I just r eceived the notice and it was denied because it wasn’t a professional appraisal.They should told use this to begin with.The houses have not changed in any since we got them except for painting walls. The people who asscessed the house’s are not professional? I dont understand this? I will get a professional appraiser.Can i appeal this last decision?I fill like I am being singled out because there are so many houses that are very nice and their taxes didn’t go up.It just doesnt make any sense to me.ANY INFO WOULD BE APPRICIATED.THANK YOU MARK DOWNING