(INDIANAPOLIS) – Senators have approved their plan for spending a billion dollars of Indiana’s record $6 billion in reserves.
The bill would save the average household about $130 by suspending the gas tax and the sales tax on utilities. It sets aside $600 million to further reduce unfunded pension liabilities, and absorb cost overruns due to inflation on state construction projects.
The plan puts the Senate at odds with the House, which adopted Governor Holcomb’s proposed $225-per-taxpayer rebate on Friday. Markle Senator Travis Holdman (R) says the Senate plan keeps the state on track to pay its bills. And he says the tax relief portion is more efficient than the tax rebate, since people will receive it automatically at the pump and on their utility bills. He notes the rebate will create costs to print checks and to process rebate requests from people who don’t file tax returns,
Six Democrats joined Republican senators to approve the plan. The House and Senate will take up each other’s bills next week.
