Richard Miller of Elwood does not seem to understand the concept of tax abatement to attract business to a certain area. The incentive is an abatement of county property taxes, not state taxes.
This means the county offers the prospective business a reduction in property taxes by a given amount over a given period of time, usually five or 10 years, which causes only that county’s residents to pay higher property taxes over that period of time.
If an abatement is given to a company in Johnson County, only Johnson County residents will pay increased property taxes. Mr. Miller’s taxes are not affected. His property tax increases only when abatements are given to businesses locating in Madison County.
Taxpayers who do not understand this have no standing to cry about their property taxes being high. If you choose to yell and scream about high taxes, think about this: When you purchase gasoline, federal and state road taxes are added to the price, and then you pay sales tax on that total. It should be illegal to charge sales tax on federal and state taxes!
Donald McKinsey
Wilkinson
