Teachers' Unions 1, Taxpayers 0

As you may divine from the Star's article this morning on Governor Daniels' property tax reform bill (House Bill 1001), the Democrat controlled House of Representatives passed many classic Democrat amendments, which GOP leader Brian Bosma says will cost Hoosier taxpayers an additional $350 million.

"We tried to help the poor. We tried to help the renters. These are people who are really left out," said House Speaker Pat Bauer (D-South Bend).

Left out because the bill was intended to address taxes paid by homeowners, something that didn't cross the minds of Democrats whose beholden voting blocs do not necessarily see immediate benefit to lower property taxes.

But the bigger news was the successful amendment by Bauer's fellow South Bend Democrat, David Niezgodski, to scale back the referenda portion of the Daniels' plan. Indiana is one of the few states that does not currently put any sort of school issues before the voting public. Daniels proposed that school construction be put towards referenda. The Niezgodski amendment exempted any building with an academic purpose from the referenda.

When asked if he thought the public was incapable of deciding for which buildings to approve construction,  Niezgodski said no, but he's worried about harming education.

The real issue is that the Niezgodski amendment stripped any building that Indiana teachers' union members might have to work in.

Bauer says the buildings proposed to still be under referenda, such as stadiums, auditoriums, and natatoriums, are the ones that cause public outcry. But we wonder what percentage of total school construction costs statewide is for "non-academic structures"?

We favor spending referenda for boutique government spending--in our minds, anything that is not an essential government expense. Public Safety, courts, jails, official salaries, streets, plows, the things that differentiate civilized society from anarchy, those are essential government expenses. Public education and crystal cathedrals of education are nice to have, but society will not crumble if they did not exist. Referenda show taxpayers the direct effects on their tax bills to acquire these government amenities.

Those who oppose referenda, like Bauer and Niezgodski, know that when citizens weigh their tax bills versus government spending, they will vote to have government spend less. Beholden to their special interests, House Democrats chose the Unions over taxpayers once again.

As you may divine from the Star's article this morning on Governor Daniels' property tax reform bill (House Bill 1001), the Democrat controlled House of Representatives passed many classic Democrat amendments, which GOP leader Brian Bosma says will cost Hoosier taxpayers an additional $350 million.

"We tried to help the poor. We tried to help the renters. These are people who are really left out," said House Speaker Pat Bauer (D-South Bend).

Left out because the bill was intended to address taxes paid by homeowners, something that didn't cross the minds of Democrats whose beholden voting blocs do not necessarily see immediate benefit to lower property taxes.

But the bigger news was the successful amendment by Bauer's fellow South Bend Democrat, David Niezgodski, to scale back the referenda portion of the Daniels' plan. Indiana is one of the few states that does not currently put any sort of school issues before the voting public. Daniels proposed that school construction be put towards referenda. The Niezgodski amendment exempted any building with an academic purpose from the referenda.

When asked if he thought the public was incapable of deciding for which buildings to approve construction,  Niezgodski said no, but he's worried about harming education.

The real issue is that the Niezgodski amendment stripped any building that Indiana teachers' union members might have to work in.

Bauer says the buildings proposed to still be under referenda, such as stadiums, auditoriums, and natatoriums, are the ones that cause public outcry. But we wonder what percentage of total school construction costs statewide is for "non-academic structures"?

We favor spending referenda for boutique government spending--in our minds, anything that is not an essential government expense. Public Safety, courts, jails, official salaries, streets, plows, the things that differentiate civilized society from anarchy, those are essential government expenses. Public education and crystal cathedrals of education are nice to have, but society will not crumble if they did not exist. Referenda show taxpayers the direct effects on their tax bills to acquire these government amenities.

Those who oppose referenda, like Bauer and Niezgodski, know that when citizens weigh their tax bills versus government spending, they will vote to have government spend less. Beholden to their special interests, House Democrats chose the Unions over taxpayers once again.