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1 Scott Drenkard, Examining the Indiana Business Personal Property Tax 1 (2014)

handle is hein.taxfoundation/taxfaaqe0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Examining the Indiana Business Personal Property Tax Scott Drenkard Economist, Tax Foundation Hearing of the Indiana House Ways and Means Committee January 14, 2014 Chairperson Brown, Vice Chairperson Cherry, Members of the Committee: My name is Scott Drenkard, and I'm an economist at the Tax Foundation. For those unfamiliar with us, we are a non-partisan, non-profit research organization that has monitored fiscal policy at all levels of government since 1937. We have produced the Facts & Figures handbook since 1941, we calculate Tax Freedom Day each year, and have a wealth of data, rankings, and other information at our website, www.TaxFoundation.org. One of our flagship studies is the State Business Tax Climate Index, and last year the big story during our report release was that Indiana ousted Texas from the top ten in our ranking because of a concerted effort in recent years to lower tax rates, slow growth in government spending, and maintain competitiveness in the region. I will take this opportunity to say congratulations to this committee in particular; other states struggle to implement these thoughtful, pro-growth reforms. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to speak today on the Indiana business personal property tax. This session represents a unique opportunity to build on the great progress Indiana has made on tax policy. While we take no position on legislation, I hope to give a review of our research on personal property taxes across the country and our understanding of the economic literature on the topic. In 2012, the Tax Foundation released a comprehensive report on personal property taxes across the 50 states. The history of the tax is quite fascinating. While tangible personal property taxes today fall almost entirely on the personal property of businesses, historically they were applied to individuals as well. That means that taxpayers used to be required to add up their household items like coffee tables, mattresses, and china and depreciate the products according to official schedules. Auditors ostensibly were allowed to enter homes to inspect. Understandably, this tax was unpopular, and taxpayers routinely hid or moved personal property during audit time. Today, household property is now almost entirely exempt across the United States with the exception of a few states that levy personal property taxes on big 1

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