Braun ‘inflation-reduction’ plan focuses on business taxes, offers targeted tax holidays

U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, the Republican candidate for Indiana governor, released an “inflation-reduction” plan Wednesday that contains several tax-cutting measures, including a plan to reduce the personal property tax burden on businesses.

The plan, which Braun’s campaign adviser Hoosiers for Opportunity, Prosperity & Enterprise spells out in detail, calls for eliminating taxes on retirement incomes and sales tax on service industry tips.

Braun wants to raise the exemption threshold for business personal property taxes upward from $80,000. He also seeks to decrease the depreciation floor, currently set at 30%, to what the plan says would be market value. Neither measure proposed included a specific increased or decreased amount.

Also included is the creation of a new tax credit that would reward employers who offer higher wages or upskilling opportunities. The Hoosier Workforce Investment Tax Credit would be implemented to incentivize businesses and combat wage and skillset stagnation, the plan says.

To combat tax bracket jumps, Braun’s plan says it would seek to index the state’s tax brackets and deductions and align them with inflation. That, in turn, would fight “unlegislated tax increases,” the campaign writes.

Another measure to help Hoosiers, Braun proposes, is creating several sales tax holidays to make buying specific school supplies, outdoor recreation goods and youth sports equipment less costly. The tax holidays would only apply to the sale of goods that fall under those categories and below a certain value.

The new proposal extends beyond taxes as well.

Regarding the energy sector and rising utility costs, Braun proposes a greater effort to usher in new energy mediums when they make sense. Specifics include supporting utilities in selling coal and natural gas facilities before retiring them, reducing regional regulation and prioritizing renewable energy development.

Reducing state government’s spending—a campaign promise Braun has repeatedly touted—also gained some policy clarity. That includes a comprehensive regulatory review to identify costly requirements and their impact on Hoosiers. It seeks to create a regulatory budget for agencies, so deregulation is not reversed in the future.

Braun also seeks to develop outcomes-focused metrics for each state agency to meet, require governor-conducted agency performance reviews, and eliminate unnecessary or underperforming positions and programs revealed during the audit process.

The plan is the most recent in a number of policy proposals his campaign has released over the past few weeks that cover property taxes, health care, agriculture and education.

Several of Braun’s policy proposals would require approval from the legislature.