Providing Tax Relief

Providing Tax Relief

BY State Senator Vaneta Becker

MAY 7, 2023

The 2023 legislative session ended last week, and as your state senator, I was happy to support legislation to provide tax relief for Hoosiers.

The new state budget speeds up planned income-tax cuts, dropping Indiana’s tax rate to 2.9% by 2027. This cut could save Hoosiers over $100 million next year and over $1 billion in the next five years.

To help senior citizens in Indiana, I supported a new law to expand eligibility for the property-tax deduction and property-tax credit for senior-citizen homeowners. This will allow the income limit for these benefits to grow every year based on the cost-of-living increase for Social Security to help seniors who initially qualify not lose eligibility as their retirement income grows.

I also supported a law to reduce property-tax bills for outbuildings and improvements on a person’s property, such as decks, patios, gazebos and pools. These structures will be subject to a lower property-tax cap next year, and many taxpayers will be able to apply the homestead deduction to these structures. 

Perhaps most important in the long run, Senate Enrolled Act 3 establishes a State and Local Tax Review Task Force to study all aspects of Indiana’s tax system – property taxes included. While this review will take time, I believe it will allow us to come up with long-term, big-picture ways to make Indiana’s tax system work better, instead of making piecemeal changes every few years.

Indiana’s solid fiscal position has been made possible thanks to years of hard work from Statehouse Republicans. We will continue to provide strong fiscal leadership, which will benefit Hoosiers now and years to come.