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Could statewide budget cuts help property taxes?

Governor Mike Braun has proposed a five-percent budget cut to each state department to reduce government spending. 

Braun highlighted the plans during his State of the State Address Wednesday.

“Every Hoosier family and business had to tighten their belts over the last four years,” he said. “It’s time that our government does the same thing.”

Lieutenant Governor and Indiana’s Secretary of Agriculture Micah Beckwith tells Brownfield making cuts could help provide property tax relief.

“We were just growing our government instead of taking that money and being wise with it,” he says. “We’re either going to cut spending or tax the living daylights out of our Hoosier families and we’re not going to do that.”

Braun says he plans to cap the annual property tax increase.

“When you talk about a cap, I’m not asking for something terribly difficult,” he said. “There’s plenty of room there. We need to make sure that we exercise good judgment and don’t be overbearing to the taxpayer.”

Braun also wants to create a Farm Savings Account to help farmers stabilize their income and implement a tax credit for aging farmers to pass their farms onto the next generation.

2025 is a bi-annual budget year and the Indiana legislative session continues through April.

AUDIO: Micah Beckwith, Indiana Lt. Governor