House Speaker Todd Huston (left) and Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray answer reporter questions in scrums held Thursday, April 27, 2025. (Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Indiana’s property taxes will return to the spotlight next week, with key lawmakers refining their message Thursday. And deadlines — including for the next two-year budget — are coming up as the end of the legislative session approaches.
Both House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray told reporters last month that they wanted Hoosiers’ 2026 property tax bills to be less than their 2025 property tax bills. But how much less?
They got more specific with reporters on Thursday, after behind-the-scenes negotiations with each others’ chambers and with Gov. Mike Braun.
“My goal is to have over 50% of people pay less in ‘26 than they did in ‘25,” Huston said. “I think it’s coming together, and we’re working at it.”
Bray similarly said that “most people” would pay less.
Major details
Huston outlined an ambitious target: he said homesteads — or primary residences — would see a “90-plus percent reduction” in “what people would have been paying in taxes.” Spokeswoman Molly Gillaspie later clarified he meant that over 90% of Hoosiers would pay less in property taxes next year.
Legislative paperwork lies arranged in baskets in the House chamber on Thursday, April 3, 2025. (Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
Huston added that lawmakers would provide more than $1 billion in relief for property taxpayers over the next three years.
Bray said the Senate hoped to “help the people that need it most,” like those with fixed incomes.
His chamber originated the property tax plan in Senate Bill 1. The House will unveil its take on the legislation Monday at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing.
Braun has previously threatened to veto Senate Bill 1 if it doesn’t provide enough relief.
Asked if he was concerned the governor wouldn’t be satisfied with lawmakers’ efforts, Bray replied, “We’re hopeful that he’ll see real value in where we’re at, but we all have a position we have to stake out.”
More to come
Huston also signaled that a contentious bill forcing some public school districts to share property tax revenue with charter schools may be folded into the property tax plan. He said the merge “would make sense to me.”
In addition to major work on property taxes, the Senate must act this week on the state budget. The two-year, $46 billion spending plan in House Bill 1001 must get out of committee by Thursday, April 10 to meet a key session deadline.
Republicans control the House, Senate and governor’s office, so the trifecta’s goals for the budget are generally aligned.
Some larger issues involve funding for traditional K-12 public schools; increased spending on private and charter schools; Medicaid cuts; economic development spending; and the fate of a public health initiative.
All bills must pass the full House and Senate chambers by April 15.
The rest of the session, which must end by April 29, will be spent negotiating final compromises. Lawmakers are hoping to finish by April 25 to avoid coming back after a weekend.
“That’s the goal. You guys have met us, so that’s the goal,” Huston told reporters.
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections. Senior Reporter Whitney Downard contributed reporting.
