By Whitney Downard | Indiana Capital Chronicle
For The Republic
INDIANAPOLIS — The Republican candidate for governor has unveiled his plan for tackling inflation and aiding Hoosiers during times of economic uncertainty, calling for the elimination of taxes on tips and empowering the governor’s office to conduct performance reviews for state agencies.
The five-point plan from Mike Braun, a sitting U.S. Senator, was released Wednesday afternoon just hours before Braun was set to debate one of his opponents, Democrat Jennifer McCormick. Braun and McCormick will be on the November ballot along with Libertarian Donald Rainwater — all of whom will participate in a separate debate on Thursday.
“Traveling Indiana I hear from so many Hoosiers who feel like they’re barely keeping their head above water due to Bidenflation, rising utility bills, high property taxes, and wages that just aren’t keeping up. My plan is directed at Hoosier families sitting around the kitchen table trying to make ends meet: My top priority is to make things better for you,” Braun said in a statement.
Braun’s accompanying white paper outlining the plan was prepared by HOPE, Inc., the foundation arm of the campaign staffed by well-known conservatives, but didn’t include a fiscal estimate. The release blamed President Joe Biden for inflation — or “Bidenflation” — and tied McCormick, who hasn’t held an elected office since early 2020, to his unspecified policies by saying she supported them.
The plan’s pillars include:
- Granting tax relief through property and income tax reform
- Creating more good-paying jobs
- Diversifying the state’s energy sources to keep bills low
- Streamlining government services and regulations
- Making state government leaner and more efficient
The last day to register to vote is Oct. 7. Hoosiers should check their voter registration at indianavoters.in.gov.
Plan details for taxes, energy
Wednesday’s plan built on Braun’s property tax proposal released earlier this year, which sought to cap growth at 2% annually for seniors, low-income Hoosiers and families with children; and at 3% for all other homeowners. The plan didn’t include relief for renters, whose monthly payments have also seen double-digit increases following increased property taxes for landlords.
Other portions of the plan would increase the homestead deduction, establish a user-friendly transparency portal and update the agricultural base rate — a formula that is based on several years of commodities data that can sometimes be “countercyclical” to prices, the plan claimed. Additionally, school funding referendums would be limited to general elections and required to have simpler ballot language.
“More than anywhere, Hoosiers feel the added cost of inflation at the cash register. The State should institute annual sales tax holidays to provide temporary, but significant, relief for Hoosiers and visitors purchasing essential goods,” the plan continued, outlining proposed holidays for back-to-school, outdoor recreation and youth sports.
State credits could also offset higher federal income taxes for Hoosiers who move up a tax bracket and could be tied to inflation alongside deductions. Another concept would reform personal business property taxes, which are higher in Indiana than elsewhere and have long been a target for the legislature.
Braun would also encourage employers to “invest in higher wages or upskilling … their employees” with a tax credit and support from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation.
“By incentivizing businesses to upskill their incumbent workforce, the State can promote higher wages for Hoosiers and stronger economic growth for communities of all sizes,” the release read.
Rather than retiring old coal- or natural gas-fired baseload generation facilities, Braun would support efforts to sell them and keep them operational, repeating pro-fossil fuel views he touted during the primary campaign.
Finding government efficiency
Braun has frequently said he would bring his private business expertise to state government to identify more efficient ways to run agencies, something he explores further in the Wednesday inflation plan.
In particular, he would eliminate “outdated, redundant or overly burdensome” regulations — something that his peers in the General Assembly have also targeted — and modernize them, which could be as simple as “moving government processes from paper to the Internet.”
Administrative rules are required to be reviewed every five years but are readopted “unchanged and without scrutiny,” he continued. Instead, agencies should be required to consult with the Office of Management and Budget during their review process and the governor should have the “explicit authority to reject” renewed rules.
“Smaller, more efficient government is better for taxpayers and the economy. Unlike the private sector, where real economics incentivize efficiency and lower overhead, government at every level has grown unchecked,” the paper asserted. “In order to reduce waste and improve the delivery of essential services, the State should develop strict performance metrics for its agencies, and eliminate unnecessary or underperforming positions and programs.”
The Office of Management and Budget and Management Performance Hub would be directed to develop “strict, outcomes-based performance metrics for each state agency” and the governor would conduct regular performance reviews for each agency against these standards.
Such efforts would be leveraged to “eliminate unnecessary or underperforming positions and programs,” the paper concludes.
Many of these proposals would likely need the support of the General Assembly, which passes the laws and holds the purse strings for state government. All 100 seats in the House of Representatives and 25 of the 50 Senate seats will also be on November’s ballot.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle covers state government and the state legislature. For more, visit indianacapitalchronicle,com.
