Indianapolis, IN

Wed 25 July 2007

So, I’m thinking about tax hikes. Everyone knows about the growing pain in the arse problem with property taxes. And it’s not getting any better. Now the city-county counsel just passed on Monday night to raise income taxes 65%. So, basically it’s like they’re saying this: We’re going to make it so that you can’t afford to live in your house (the same house you’ve been living in for years), and force you into a foreclosure (which we can buy and sell to developers), and now we’re going to take more out of your paycheck. And we’re going to guilt you into the income tax hike because it’s going to go for public safety, and who doesn’t want to be safe, right? Not with the crime rate and all. Arrrrr… Who do these people think they are? It’s criminal what they’re doing, it seems like. They are making it so that people like us will never be able to work or afford a home in Indianapolis. I like Indianapolis. I wanted to stay here for a while. We thought that we would buy a house and work here until our kids were in college. But not anymore. We’re starting to look elsewhere to buy a house. Even if we buy a house, we will never truly own our home. Even if we pay off our house, we will always be paying property taxes, which are way more than the actual mortgage. (I guess that kind of makes you wonder at the term “homeowner.”) I heard that that this property tax fiasco is going to affect rent rates, too. Great. That’s just what I didn’t want to hear. So, now everyone can have something to complain about. We’re already being screwed on our paychecks as it is, and now starting October 1, we’ll be having more of our hard-earned dollars taken away from us. Basically, the end result will be this: There will be no middle class in Indianapolis and Marion County. There will be rich people who can pay the taxes and not worry about the income tax hike. And there will be poor people who survive on all of the state benefit programs, like Hoosier Healthwise, foodstamps, Section 8 housing, etc. So, I guess we’ll start saving our money (what money we still get), and start looking for a house somewhere else. At this rate, it might be just as cheap to live in Chicago.

: property taxes, income taxes, homeowners, Marion County