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Farmland Property Taxes May Keep Increasing Jan 24, 2024

Show notes

The memo was posted at the end of December, on the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance website. It announced the base rate for farmland at $2,280 per acre for property taxes in 2025. That’s up 20 percent from this year’s $1,900. It will be the third straight year of big increases. The base rate rose 16 percent from $1,290 in 2022 to $1,500 for 2023, and 27 percent to $1,900 for 2024. What’s the base rate, and why is it going up so much? Economist Larry DeBoer explains.

Taking Inflation Apart Dec 18, 2023

Show notes

Consumer price index Inflation ran at 2.1 percent per year from 1997 to 2019. Then came the pandemic recession and recovery. Inflation dropped to 1.3 percent in 2020—including 3 months of deflation, when prices were falling—then soared to 8 percent in 2022, the highest inflation rate in 40 years. The peak month was in June that year, when consumer prices averaged 8.9 percent higher than in June of 2021.

Since then inflation has come down a lot. As of November 2023, prices were 3.1 percent higher than a year before. That’s good news.

How Much Will Homeowner Property Taxes Rise in 2024? Nov 20, 2023

Show notes

The second installment for 2023 property taxes was due earlier this month. If you’re a homeowner, either you sent a check to your county treasurer or your bank paid the tax out of escrow. Homeowner tax bills were especially painful in 2023. Statewide average homestead tax bills went up 17 percent over 2022, a much bigger increase than in years past. So we wonder, now that 2023 is done, what will happen to tax bills in 2024?

How Can a Homeowner Calculate the Cost of a School Referendum? Oct 25, 2023

Show notes

Election Day is coming up, and 12 Indiana school districts have put property tax referendums on the ballot. Voters who own homes will want to know, “How much will I pay if the referendum passes?”

Here’s how to make a good guess.

How Do States Manage Without Individual Income Taxes? Sep 20, 2023

Show notes

Indiana has an individual income tax to help pay for state services. Indiana raises about $8 billion a year from its state income tax, which is 36% of total general fund revenues. Most states have income taxes, but eight states do not. Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington (state) and Wyoming do not collect individual income taxes to fund their state governments. How do they get by? What do they do instead?

Supply Chain Pressure is Easing, and so is Inflation Aug 23, 2023

Show notes

Inflation is falling, and we’re not in recession. How can that be? Economist, Larry Deboer, provides insight.

Indiana State Balances and the Pension Stabilization Fund Jul 26, 2023

Show notes

The Indiana fiscal new year is upon us, having begun on July 1. The big New Year’s celebration happened on July 13, with the “closeout” announcement. That’s the state’s accounting of revenues, spending and balances as of the end of fiscal 2023. The good news: Indiana has $2.9 billion in the bank, 13.6 percent of the general fund budget. That’s enough to cover cash flow and most shortfalls in revenue below expectations.

That amount takes some explaining though, because a year ago balances were $6.1 billion. Where did that money go?

Larry Deboer explains.

Will the Inflation Rate Keep Falling? Jun 26, 2023

Show notes

Inflation is coming down. The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which measures the Consumer Price Index reported the 12-month inflation rate for May at 4.0 percent, down a whole point from the 5.0 percent rate in April. Inflation had peaked in June 2022 at 8.9 percent, which was the highest inflation rate in 40 years. Larry Deboer gives his analysis of what it all means.

The General Assembly Delivers Some Property Tax Relief May 23, 2023

Show notes

Indiana homeowner tax bills increased 17 percent on average this year, the largest increase in years. Other property owners saw big increases too. The pandemic caused property values to rise in 2021, which increased property assessments in 2022. Tax bills in 2023 were based on those assessments. Purdue Extension ag economist, Larry Deboer, breaks it all down.

An Extra Billion and a Half in State Revenue Apr 27, 2023

Show notes

On April 19, 2023, in the Indiana Statehouse in the city of Indianapolis, one-point-five billion dollars appeared out of thin air. The state revenue forecast upped its prediction of revenues for the rest of this fiscal year and the coming biennium, 2023-25, by $1.5 billion over the prediction from last December.

What happened? Larry Deboer explains.

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