Marshall County Commissioner Jesse Bohannon could not attend Monday’s meeting because Governor Braun’s administration had invited him to speak at a property tax rally in Indianapolis.
The Indiana State Police estimated there were 1,000 Hoosiers that attended the rally outside the Lt. Governor’s office. These folks were there to support Governor Braun’s SB1 property tax reduction bill.
Bohannon stated his comments at the rally saying, “I am very optimistic today. With the pace of reform President Trump is ushering in, we have momentum right now unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Thank God, we are blessed with new leaders who are listening to the people and keeping their word.”
Commissioner Bohannon thanked the new administration for delivering on its promise to address property tax reform. He said,
“As an elected leader, I don’t get to sit this one out. It's my responsibility to advocate for my people. Your leadership on this issue is helping me fulfill my campaign promise. As a candidate, I pledged to keep taxes low. But during my time as a local official, I’ve learned something: our system is so broken, it prevents us from cutting property tax. It's on autopilot.”
Bohannon spoke about responsible spending and the hoarding of money by many local governments such as the county, city, towns, townships, schools, and libraries there is $155 million. He went on to say, “We should seriously look into it. Some of it surely can be refunded to the people.”
The commissioner said workers’ wages have stagnated over the past 10 years while inflation has averaged a
3% growth, but government revenues have grown twice as fast. Bohannon said, “Taxpayers are hurting. And let's be honest: Not everything government does is necessary. We have hundreds of millions of dollars every year in state and local low-priority, redundant, and questionable expenditures, starting with a combined $1B a year for economic development… there is room to cut.”
Commissioner Bohannon said, “For those of us in local government: let us be proactive. We can help create a system that makes sense. A system that delivers real tax relief AND puts first things first. I would love to see a DOGE Indiana study the local government surpluses and assist local units to become more efficient.” This brought a resounding cheer from the crowd.
The Marshall County Commissioner closed his comments by saying, “I believe if we set the right priorities at the state and local levels, we can cut taxes AND provide the effective limited government our people expect.”
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