I can describe with one word the unemployment insurance bill that was recently signed into law: unacceptable. Six hundred and fifty million dollars in increased state taxes will be created by raising the wage base from $7,000 to $9,500. Add to that $50 million in federal tax increases on Indiana employers in 2010-from reduced federal Unemployment Tax credits to employers. This totals $700 million in tax increases for Hoosier businesses over the next two years, which to me, is unacceptable. At a time when Indiana's unemployment rate has reached double digits, we should be putting Hoosiers back to work, not taxing Hoosier employers to the point they can't create jobs. Forget creating new jobs; by raising employer taxes as much as 150 percent for more than 100,000 Hoosier businesses, we may force employers to lay off employees - and that is also unacceptable. I voted against this legislation because it is a setback that will hurt Hoosier business rather than put Hoosier employees back to work. Unfortunately, House Democrats disagreed and did what they thought was best for them instead of what was right for Indiana. House Bill 1379 passed out of the House by a 52-47 vote. First of all, House Democrats were not able to pass their own bill addressing the unemployment insurance fund, which, in addition to the budget, was one of their greatest responsibilities this session. They failed to fulfill this responsibility, and they, in turn, passed the buck to Senate Republicans. I applaud the Senate for their work to develop a better plan to fix Indiana's insolvent trust fund. However, the bill still required many changes to create the type of well-balanced solution this fund truly needs. In conference committee, House Republicans were left out of important, final negotiations. We had ideas to make the bill better, but our opinions and ideas were simply not heard by the majority. The House speaker even removed our House Republican conferee for the bill, who had been closely following this issue all session, to replace him with a House Democrat conferee. It is unfortunate that the majority party of the Indiana House silenced important viewpoints that could have better solved Indiana's problems. In light of their inability to pass their own plan, it seems odd that they wouldn't welcome any and all assistance in crafting a solution to make our jobless fund solvent. With the unemployment rate reaching a statewide average of 10.6 percent, and with the chance it could soar even higher in the future, all voices should be heard in order to find a favorable solution. I hope the next time Hoosiers demand solutions from Indiana General Assembly, legislative leadership consults all parties. In order to find a solution, we all have to work together in a bipartisan effort. This situation can get worse and if it does, the fund will face a major crisis beyond what we could imagine. |
