Timothy Maguire: Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Marion County, Indiana (LPMC)

Also visit the official LPMC site: www.indylp.org

Indiana Taxes Are Out Of Control!

Our Solution: LESS SPENDING

As a member of the non-partisan Indianapolis Metropolitan Board of Zoning Appeals, I have proven my ability to work with others to find solutions. (my opinions here do not reflect official Board positions)
While the state can fix the way we are taxed, it is LOCAL government who is spending too much of your money. Township government is one of those districts wasting your money...I seek to change that.
Libertarians have been advocating less spending for years. Libertarians believe in being SERVED by a small non-intrusive government that is financially responsible, administratively competent and socially tolerant.
The best way to influence spending is to hold leaders more accountable. But with 64 taxing districts in Marion County, it is almost impossible to keep track of the waste.
Township government CAN be consolidated, if we do it right. But consolidating government, without cutting the budget will be pointless. If presented with a comprehensive plan to REDUCE bureaucracy and REDUCE taxes, I will vote for consolidation — effectively eliminating my "job".
There are many services that can be privatized, which would free up operating expenses and allow the respective properties to be taxed. Some initial suggestions: golf courses, swimming pools, sports complexes, and libraries. Poor relief can be administered more cost-effectively, with better service, by a contracted agency.
The practices of tax abatements and Tax Increment Financing (TIF) need to be eliminated. These practices unfairly transfer the property tax burden from a favored few business owners to everyone else.
While the FairTax is not something that can be implemented on the local level, the counties should lobby the state legislature to eliminate property taxes and income taxes, and replace them with state and local sales taxes.
At the very least, the property taxes we do have should be fair for all. Structures should be taxed on a per square foot basis, to be taxed at the same rate within a classification. Property taxes should ONLY provide funds for education, police, fire and parks.
And again, no matter what else we do, WE MUST REDUCE THE SPENDING.

"Libertarians believe the answer to America's political problems is the same commitment to freedom that earned America its greatness: a free-market economy and the abundance and prosperity it brings; a dedication to civil liberties and personal freedom that marks this country above all others; and a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade as prescribed by America's founders." (Source: The Libertarian Party: A Short History, 2000;)