Local Government

LWVIN supports the following principles of local government:

Representative and participatory: LWVIN supports strategies that promote diversity of representation and civic participation, information that is complete, clearly presented and accessible; services that are accessible; and citizen input and review of all policy making.

Efficient and effective: LWVIN supports local government organization and processes that direct dollars to the improvement of services instead of excess administration. Intergovernmental cooperation should be an essential element of governmental processes.

Transparent, accessible and accountable: LWVIN supports local government that is transparent and with elected and appointed officials accessible to the public. Officials who make policy and levy taxes should be accountable to the voters and follow established ethical standards. Officials who administer policy are accountable to the elected officials who appoint them.  

Flexible: LWVIN supports choices for counties, cities, and towns in the ways they organize and administer their structures and functions.  

Fair and equitable: LWVIN supports fair and equitable processes and services.

Continuous improvement: LWVIN supports provisions for the continuous improvement of governmental processes including, but not limited to: technical assistance, qualifications for and training of personnel, standards, evaluation, reporting, data collection, and research.

 

Local Government Finance

Local government units should be allowed to use a mix of taxing options or alternatives, in addition to equitable property taxation, for financing local governmental operations.

There is a need for flexibility in funding services at the local level. Local government units should have the ability to choose the most appropriate remedy, as established by law.

Local government units depend on and need a program of state fiscal support including, but not limited to, distribution of taxes collected statewide as well as state general fund surpluses. State funds should be used to compensate local governments for taxes not paid on tax-exempt state property and for state-mandated local programs.

State government should enable a variety of local option income taxes that allow increases in local revenues for purposes other than property tax replacement. These taxes may be levied on both personal and/or corporate income. When a county adopts such a tax, it should apply to all income generated in that county, with no credits given to either residents or nonresidents.

The townships' annual financial and budget estimate reports each shall provide specific, uniform information that accounts for the costs of all functions, including administration, as well as for amounts in financial reserves.

 

Property Tax Exemption

State property tax exemptions, deductions, tax abatements and TIFs narrow the tax base of local governments, burden non-exempt properties and/or cause reductions in services offered by local governments. They should be granted fairly, equitably and sparingly with sunset provisions. ("Tax abatements": taxes on new investment phased-in over a number of years; "TIF": if an area is designated a Tax Increment Finance district, property taxes generated from new development can be set aside and invested back in the area to promote development.)

Each county auditor should make available to the public the names, assessed values and purposes of organizations and businesses whose property is tax-exempt. The auditor should post property tax information on the county website.

Owners of tax-exempt properties should make payments in lieu of taxes for services provided them by government.

Property tax relief for persons should be based on economic need, should be given uniformly, and should be financed by the state.

 

Tax System

Members of the League of Women Voters of Indiana believe a tax system should be broad-based, equitable, easily understood, and efficiently administered and should provide adequate revenue for Indiana's budgetary needs.

To achieve these goals, LWVIN supports the following measures:

• An individual income tax which is progressive for all income levels.
• Opposes any reduction in Indiana personal income tax revenue.
• Assessment of all real property at frequent, regular intervals, at the same effective percentage, using adequately trained personnel and up-to-date procedures.

The League favors the replacement of revenues lost from local property tax relief for businesses through an increase in state corporation income tax and other taxes on business.

School Finance

The League of Women Voters of Indiana believes that public school funding should guarantee equal access to basic, high quality education for all Indiana children and recognition of State responsibility for attaining this goal (as outlined in our State Constitution, Article 8, and Indiana Code IC 20-33). To achieve this goal, the League supportstransparent funding mechanism for public elementary and secondary schools.

 

The League believes a transparent funding mechanism should (1) provide for standard, basic, high quality education for all Indiana children regardless of their place of residence; (2) is appropriate for each child's individual potential and circumstances; (3)  is financed by a mix of state and local funds; (4) and provides fiscal equalization 

 

Foundational funding should include:

• Provisions for incentives to improve education.
• Weights reflecting the added per pupil costs for equalizing educational opportunity for children who are economically disadvantaged, physically handicapped, or in other special circumstances (special education, English language learning).
• Provision for additional costs resulting from special circumstances of the school corporation itself.
• The total foundational funding should be set at a level high enough to provide all funds needed for school corporations to pay for high quality education, including competitive teachers' salaries.  
• After the foundational funding has been set and allocated at a level high enough for a basic program, the League supports funding mechanisms which allow school corporations to provide for local needs and interestsby referenda. 

 

The League of Women Voters of Indiana supports:

• An over-all increase in the level of education funding of Indiana's public schools.
• The concept of state taxes paying, on the average, three fourths of public school operating expenses (those costs other than construction costs, debt service, and transportation).
• Transportation funded separately by a mix of state and local taxes. Complete funding of costs over the foundational level for state mandated programs.
• Methods of public funding of schools which (1) are simple, predictable, and stable, allowing for efficient planning; (2) are flexible and responsive to local needs and/or choices; (3) and provide incentives for creative efforts among school corporations and innovative approaches to problems.
• A method of public school funding which eliminates extreme variations in level of per pupil expenditures, allocating funding so that each child receives equal support, with consideration given to area differences in operating expenses.
• If additional revenues are needed to supply the state's share of school funding, the League favors use of the statewide income tax.
• The League opposes the diversion of public funds to nonpublic schools, for example, through vouchers, tuition tax credits, tax deductions, or choice scholarships and scholarship granting organizations (SGOs).
• The League supports the use of tax referenda to increase local public-school funding.

Updated June 2025