2023 Indiana Legislature Opens – WOWO 1190 AM

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana (Network Indiana): The Legislative Council struck the gavel today as members of Congress debated and debated Indiana’s potential new legislation.

The biggest debate in this session is how Indiana’s leaders will spend their tax dollars in the next two years. Lawmakers will spend the next four months building a budget around three key tenants.

Stephanie Wells, the new head of the Indiana Institute for Fiscal Policy, said, “There are three big challenges for this budget: ‘Healthcare, economic development, education…and workforce development. They’re all very important.’ am.”

Wells tells Indy Politics that those are also big challenges in terms of how much they cost Indiana taxpayers. The state’s banks are estimated to have about $2 billion in excess tax dollars, but Wells predicts most of that money could already be spent elsewhere.

That said, she believes it will be difficult for lawmakers to figure out how to pay for these big topics without breaking the bank in an inflationary environment.

“Revenue growth is about flat, but we don’t need to cut spending,” she said. “But inflation will affect the dollars allocated to the budget.”

Lawmakers also plan to start discussing the possibility of phasing out Indiana’s income tax. She doesn’t expect a law on it to be passed in this particular legislative session.

Wells added that while the state is “okay” financially considering the country’s current economic situation, Indiana does not have infinite resources. Understanding what to do will be a big challenge for lawmakers, she said.