thanks, guv!

the indiana sales tax goes up to 7% on tuesday, giving us one of the highest sales taxes in the country. the increase is to make up for lost property tax revenue, which means if you're an apartment-dweller or renter like me, you're screwed—your sales taxes are going up 16%, and there's no way in hell your landlord is going to reduce your rent to accomodate for any property tax decrease. the net result: big tax increase for non-homeowners! and i'm pretty sure that, despite what the governor may think, most "lower-income people" are renters, not homeowners.

but hold on! i used to own a house in washington township, which i miraculously managed to sell last fall. surely, if i still owned that, i would've seen a property tax decrease, yeah? let's take a gander at that new tax assessment that the governor ordered. what do you know: % increase from the rejected 2007 assessment: 13.15%. % increase from last "valid" assessed value: 112.05%

according to the star:

If your assessment declined or increased by less than 8 percent from the assessment used to calculate the flawed 2007 bill, you likely will owe less than your original 2007 bill. If your assessment increased by more than 8 percent, you are likely to owe even more than the amount of the flawed bill.

damned if you do, damned if you don't. my taxes were going to go up either way, thanks to the governor's tax plan.

now, as a liberal, i don't mind paying taxes. i didn't mind when mayor peterson raised the county income tax, because i knew the budget was tight and the money was necessary for public safety. but this is a different scenario: this was supposed to be tax reform! so why am i getting shafted?¶