Capital Comments

Sometimes taxes cost more to collect than the revenue they generate. Back in 2015, the Indiana General Assembly recognized one example. Purdue ag economist, Larry DeBoer, explains the personal property tax exception and...

The governor signed Senate Bill 1 into law on April 15, 2025. The property tax impact of this bill has been talked about a lot. But the bill also makes big changes in the second most important local tax — the local...

Each spring the county treasurer reminds us just how complicated the Indiana Property Tax is, by mailing form TS-1, “Taxpayer and Property Information.” It’s a one-page summary of how they get from the assessed value of...

The Indiana General Assembly is debating property tax reform. Senate Bill 1 is a focus of the debate. The original bill introduced in January included the new Governor’s campaign promises for property tax relief. Get...

Property taxes on farmland went up a lot in 2023 and 2024. They’ll be going up a lot in 2025 too. The reason is the rise in the base rate of farmland. The reason that’s been rising is the pandemic. Economist, Larry...

The holiday season is here, and with it a chance to read or watch Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol . Listen to learn the strange connection between Ebenezer Scrooge, "surplus population" and British economist Rev...

Suppose we want to cut property taxes for homeowners. How could we do that? Purdue ag economist, Larry DeBoer, explains.

Last week the Federal Reserve changed its interest rate policy. What did the Fed do, and why? Purdue ag economist, Larry DeBoer, explains.

How do we know if a recession has started? Sometimes it’s obvious. In March 2020 during the pandemic emergency, weekly applications for unemployment insurance jumped from 200,000 to 6 million. There was no doubt we were...

Closeout day in the Indiana State House is near and dear to the number crunchers among us. That’s the day the State Comptroller and the State Budget Agency tell us about revenues, expenditures and balances for the...

Ag economist, Larry DeBoer, breaks down the ups and down of Indiana's property tax policy.

Purdue agricultural economist, Larry DeBoer, posits what could happen to Social Security in this episode of Capital Comments.

It was printed in bold letters on the front of the envelope. “Open Immediately. Property Tax Notice Enclosed.” It was the annual property tax bill on my house! I remembered last year: a jump in my tax bill of 31...

Let’s think about the economy in the simplest possible way. People use tools to make goods and services, which other people buy. Gross domestic product is our measure of the value of goods and services. It grew 2.5...

Last year Indiana homeowners were hit with property tax bill increases averaging 17 percent, an extraordinary increase. Will it happen again in 2024? Let’s compare 2023 to what we know about 2024 so far, and take a...