INDIANAPOLIS — Property taxes fund vital services in communities across the state. But Hoosiers are feeling the pinch of their rising property tax bills, the latest of which are due in two weeks.
"They are going up and up and up,” Debra Reed, a homeowner from Lebanon, said.
Reed and her husband have owned their home for 14 years. They say they are on a fixed income but that hasn't stopped their property taxes from increasing.
"$1,000 now a year,” Reed said. “When we first got it, it was like $700 and something. After all these years, it's went up and now it's going up again."
Roughly $300 might not seem like a lot of money, but when you're on a fixed income like the Reed's, they say it can become a burden.
Debra says it has forced her nearly 70-year-old husband to pick up a part-time job.
"When we first bought the home, it was a pretty reasonable price to everything,” Reed said. “But I'm not giving it up. People say sell it. But no, I'm not going to sell it. When I go, this is my kids home."
One county assessor in the state of Indiana is encouraging residents to file an appeal to their property tax bills if they think it's too high.
"Equity is lost when the system is incomprehensible,” Eric Grossman, Tippecanoe County Assessor, said. “I think when you have an average citizen who is trying to understand how their assessments derive and what subsidy happens from there, it's hard to have a conversation about what taxes should be or what assessments should be when no one understand them to begin with."
He feels the state needs to make the process less complicated and come up with a uniform assessment process.
"That is what we are advocating for with these appeals — a fair system of assessments, everyone pays their share, no one pays a lot,” Grossman said. “I think that is your answer to that."
Justin Ross is a professor of public finance and economics at Indiana University. He serves on a task force with lawmakers who are looking into the tax system as a whole. A portion of that task force includes looking at the tax structure of property taxes.
He is serving in a similar role on a task force in Montana. He says property taxes across the country have increased, along with home prices. However, he says uniform property tax assessments model can be tricky.
"Properties and characteristics what is valued in a particular area just varies from place to place,” Ross said. “That’s as true in Indiana as it is across California or New York. It's just a challenge."
Ross adds that when property taxes decrease, it’s never a solution but more of a compromise. Often if property taxes decrease, certain needed services are cut or school referendums are limited.
Ross advises against appealing your property taxes unless it will save you a significant amount of money.
Lawmakers have said the issue is something they hope to address in the 2025 legislative session. For more information about property taxes, click here.
