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January 13, 2010
Study: Indiana's rural counties get bigger benefit from taxes
By Mary Beth Schneider
mary.beth.schneider@indystar.com
Indiana's rural counties might want to send a big thank you to urban counties.
A new study by the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute shows that urban counties get back fewer tax
dollars from the state than they generate, while rural counties reap the benefits.
The study, which looked at tax allocations by county in calendar year 2008 and fiscal year 2009,
showed that of the $13.7 billion in state tax revenue allocated to counties, more than a third was paid
by taxpayers in the Indianapolis metropolitan counties. Those counties got back only about 28
percent of state expenditures.
Of the state's 92 counties, the 46 considered "metropolitan" paid 82.5 percent of taxes, while getting
back 76.7 percent of revenue.
The top 10 donor counties, the study found, were Vanderburgh, Hendricks, Hamilton, Bartholomew,
Monroe, Dubois, Marion, Steuben, Clark and Kosciusko.
The top 10 recipients, getting back more dollars than they paid in, were Cass, Sullivan, Parke, Miami,
Clay, Union, Crawford, Perry, Jennings and Jefferson.
Legislators from rural districts frequently complain in the Indiana General Assembly that the urban
counties, and Marion in particular, get all the attention. That resentment was particularly strong as the
state put together a funding package for Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center.
But John Ketzenberger, president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, said the report is evidence
that lawmakers should consider before making such complaints.
"The numbers speak for themselves," he said. "The fact is urban counties like Marion, Allen and
Vanderburgh and others essentially subsidize more rural counties," he said.
The study, the first of its kind in Indiana, was released Tuesday at a Statehouse news conference by
Ketzenberger, as well as Michael Hicks and Dagney Faulk of the Ball State University Center for
Business and Economic Research, which conducted the research.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100113/NEWS05/1130343/1008/L... 1/13/2010