QUOTE
Pollution tax has fighting chance
January 10, 2007
By ANDY GRIMM Post-Tribune
A neighborhood group's proposal to tax polluters to pay for property tax relief might seem farfetched, but leaders of the Miller Citizens Corp. have a track record for getting their way.
The group announced the start of a lobbying effort for legislation that would allow counties to tax toxic emissions released by heavy industry, a plan that pits the group against corporations including U.S. Steel and BP.
But MCC leaders have gotten their way on tax issues more often than not since the state changed the property tax assessment system in 2003.
The group will present its proposal to the public at a special meeting with county officials at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point.
An MCC lawsuit blocked delivery of the first post-reassessment tax bills, which soared for many homeowners in Miller.
Lobbying efforts by MCC leaders also helped pass a statewide circuit breaker for property taxes that capped bills at 2 percent of a property's assessed value.
"Look at our track record ... I would say we have a pretty good chance," said Greg Reising, one of the authors of the plan and a member of the MCC Legal Defense Fund.
State Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, has said she would help draft the legislation and find a sponsor in the Statehouse.
The plan would pay for the $19 million budget shortfall created by Lake County's tax cap in 2007 by taxing the 74 businesses with state permits to release toxic substances into the air, charging 5 cents per pound of pollutants.
The fee would increase to nearly 60 cents in 2010, when the tax cap is expanded to include all real estate in the county.
At 60 cents per pound Lake County's largest industrial polluter, U.S. Steel's Gary Works, which releases 82,000 tons of toxic material, would cost the steel corporation an additional $96 million in fees. Mittal Steel and BP would pay an additional $88 million and $12 million based on 2005 emissions data.
U.S. Steel spokesman John Armstrong declined comment. BP representatives did not return calls.
The corporations received massive tax breaks when the state altered the formula for property tax assessment in 2003, changes that contributed to skyrocketing bills on homeowners and smaller businesses in Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Whiting-- the cities that are home to the largest polluters, noted MCC President George Rogge.
Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said Rogers handed out the Miller group's proposal at the Northwest Indiana delegation meeting on Monday afternoon.
He said one problem with the Indiana tax system is the number of "patches," and that the emissions tax would cause much debate. If the tax causes industry to clean up, Soliday said, the funding source would dry up in the future.
"I hear all sorts of things on how to fix it," said Soliday. "You've got to be careful what you wish for."
Air quality in the region has improved since the regulations were adopted in the 1990s, however, Northwest Indiana levels of toxic emissions and tiny particles of soot are the worst in the state.
Permitted business pay a per-ton fee to emit regulated substances of about $33 dollars per ton, to a maximum fee of $200,000 per year, an amount that will drop to $150,000 this year, said Tom Anderson, head of the regional environmental group Save the Dunes.
"I think it's a very interesting solution," said Anderson, who also is a member of the state's Air Pollution Control Board. "It provides some compensation to the public, especially areas that have pollution emitters in their area."
Reising said the proposal is sure to draw outcry from industry, but noted the proposal also would include tax breaks for facilities that reduce their emissions and that in 2010 the fees could be reduced by half if government units in Lake County agree to reduce spending.
Reising said he had no fear Gary's largest taxpayer, U.S. Steel, might close the 100-year-old Gary Works plant rather than pay taxes on their Lake County operations many times greater than in any other part of the country.
"If they did, U.S. Steel would be out of business," Reising said, "and our air would be a lot cleaner."
Contact Andy Grimm 648-3073 or agrimm@post-trib.com. Reporter Jim Stinson contributed to this story.
January 10, 2007
By ANDY GRIMM Post-Tribune
A neighborhood group's proposal to tax polluters to pay for property tax relief might seem farfetched, but leaders of the Miller Citizens Corp. have a track record for getting their way.
The group announced the start of a lobbying effort for legislation that would allow counties to tax toxic emissions released by heavy industry, a plan that pits the group against corporations including U.S. Steel and BP.
But MCC leaders have gotten their way on tax issues more often than not since the state changed the property tax assessment system in 2003.
The group will present its proposal to the public at a special meeting with county officials at 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point.
An MCC lawsuit blocked delivery of the first post-reassessment tax bills, which soared for many homeowners in Miller.
Lobbying efforts by MCC leaders also helped pass a statewide circuit breaker for property taxes that capped bills at 2 percent of a property's assessed value.
"Look at our track record ... I would say we have a pretty good chance," said Greg Reising, one of the authors of the plan and a member of the MCC Legal Defense Fund.
State Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, has said she would help draft the legislation and find a sponsor in the Statehouse.
The plan would pay for the $19 million budget shortfall created by Lake County's tax cap in 2007 by taxing the 74 businesses with state permits to release toxic substances into the air, charging 5 cents per pound of pollutants.
The fee would increase to nearly 60 cents in 2010, when the tax cap is expanded to include all real estate in the county.
At 60 cents per pound Lake County's largest industrial polluter, U.S. Steel's Gary Works, which releases 82,000 tons of toxic material, would cost the steel corporation an additional $96 million in fees. Mittal Steel and BP would pay an additional $88 million and $12 million based on 2005 emissions data.
U.S. Steel spokesman John Armstrong declined comment. BP representatives did not return calls.
The corporations received massive tax breaks when the state altered the formula for property tax assessment in 2003, changes that contributed to skyrocketing bills on homeowners and smaller businesses in Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Whiting-- the cities that are home to the largest polluters, noted MCC President George Rogge.
Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, said Rogers handed out the Miller group's proposal at the Northwest Indiana delegation meeting on Monday afternoon.
He said one problem with the Indiana tax system is the number of "patches," and that the emissions tax would cause much debate. If the tax causes industry to clean up, Soliday said, the funding source would dry up in the future.
"I hear all sorts of things on how to fix it," said Soliday. "You've got to be careful what you wish for."
Air quality in the region has improved since the regulations were adopted in the 1990s, however, Northwest Indiana levels of toxic emissions and tiny particles of soot are the worst in the state.
Permitted business pay a per-ton fee to emit regulated substances of about $33 dollars per ton, to a maximum fee of $200,000 per year, an amount that will drop to $150,000 this year, said Tom Anderson, head of the regional environmental group Save the Dunes.
"I think it's a very interesting solution," said Anderson, who also is a member of the state's Air Pollution Control Board. "It provides some compensation to the public, especially areas that have pollution emitters in their area."
Reising said the proposal is sure to draw outcry from industry, but noted the proposal also would include tax breaks for facilities that reduce their emissions and that in 2010 the fees could be reduced by half if government units in Lake County agree to reduce spending.
Reising said he had no fear Gary's largest taxpayer, U.S. Steel, might close the 100-year-old Gary Works plant rather than pay taxes on their Lake County operations many times greater than in any other part of the country.
"If they did, U.S. Steel would be out of business," Reising said, "and our air would be a lot cleaner."
Contact Andy Grimm 648-3073 or agrimm@post-trib.com. Reporter Jim Stinson contributed to this story.