Indiana’s top five Republican gubernatorial candidates speak at a forum on Jan. 26, 2024. From left to right: U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, businessman Brad Chambers, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, businessman Eric Doden and former Attorney General Curtis Hill. (Photos by Whitney Downard/Indiana Capital Chronicle; graphic by Leslie Bonilla Muñiz/Indiana Capital Chronicle)
All eight of the hopefuls running for governor across three parties appeared at a business-friendly forum in Fishers Tuesday, where candidates regularly reverted to prepared talking points on taxes and economic development.
In addition to the half-dozen candidates appearing on the May Republican ballot — U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, Brad Chambers, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, Eric Doden, former Attorney General Curtis Hill and Jamie Reitenour — the forum featured Democrat Jennifer McCormick and Libertarian Donald Rainwater.
McCormick is the sole candidate to qualify for the Democratic primary ballot and the Indiana Libertarian Party nominated Rainwater in a private convention.
Hosted by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the Indiana Builders Association and Americans for Prosperity, the forum featured six questions in addition to an introduction and conclusion.
Audience members chatted with candidates before and after the lunchtime event.
Taxes
The General Assembly is in the midst of a two-year study on the state’s tax system and a gradual decrease of the income tax to 2.9%. Crouch’s defining campaign proposal has been to “axe” the state income tax completely over several years, which is roughly an $8 billion impact on state revenues.
Doden said he was “thoroughly in favor” of the task force and would consider eliminating the income tax but only in a “fiscally responsible way.”
“To get rid of the income tax, right now, it would put a 40% hole, or $8 billion hole, in the budget. And so without saying what you’re going to eliminate in expenses or not saying how you’re going to replace the tax — that’s just not responsible,” Doden said.
While several candidates bemoaned Indiana’s current state of taxation, Chambers struck a more cheerful tone, noting that Indiana consistently ranks as one of the most tax-friendly states for businesses in the country.
“Indiana does a pretty good job; our legislature has done a pretty good job. We’re top nine in the country for low taxation,” Chambers said. “I think the best way to lower everyone’s burden is growing the top line and adding more taxpayers by growing our population and adding more businesses — small and large.”
Rainwater criticized the income tax and sales tax alike — and vowed to curb future taxes in addition to vetoing any budget increases if elected governor.
“We’re getting taxed to death. I don’t care that we’re better than 40 other states. If we’re not number one, we’re not good enough,” Rainwater said.
McCormick, meanwhile, said that while “we needed” to address income taxes and even gas taxes — the latter a policy proposal from Hill as well — her bigger concern was about “hidden taxes” in areas she said Republicans had neglected over the decades.
“For the last 20 years the Republicans had their chance. They said we’re keeping all these taxes down — well ask local people what’s happening with school referendums. You go ask them what’s happening with some of these hidden taxes that are sneaking up on people,” said McCormick, the former Superintendent for Public Instruction. “We’re not having that conversation … because the system we have built is not paying attention to our expenditure priorities (like education).”
Role of government
A number of questions tackled the role of the state government, including its influence on workforce development, bureaucracy and the topic of government overreach.
For her part, Crouch vowed to “look at downsizing our state agencies so that we realize more efficiency, and we end wasteful government spending.”
In addition to an audit for the Family and Social Services Administration following a $1 billion shortfall that prompted the agency to pursue cost-cutting measures like reducing an attendant care program for parents with disabled children, she called for an audit of all agencies to avoid such “errors.”
“We will look at all rules and regulations … and any that add to the cost of doing business or slow down the speed of business will be eliminated. If there’s any on there that are stricter than the federal government, they’re off the books,” she concluded.
Hill relitigated battles from his time as Indiana’s Attorney General, including clashes with the federal government over Obamacare — which he called “the largest federal overreach in my lifetime” — and COVID-19 public health policies.
“That was a prime example of state government running amok with its overreach … and the need to have leadership that stops it in its tracks,” Hill said.
Last week, faith-based Reitenour criticized various events for excluding her, including Tuesday’s forum. Following her release, she reached out to NFIB to join. She spent the event describing a “spiritual battle” in Indiana and lauded conservative ideals, including less state government.
“The problem with the state of Indiana is that we’re a red state and we just can’t quite figure out if we’re conservative,” Reitenour said. “… We do not have less government and lower taxes in the state of Indiana. That’s not happening. (But) it has to happen because the more power government has the worse it infringes on your freedom.”
Braun, who received an endorsement from the Indiana State Police Alliance Tuesday morning, painted himself as a fiscal conservative who voted against bills increasing the deficit with the exception of certain priorities under former President Donald Trump. He said he alone could act on the plans volleyed about on Tuesday.
“Who is going to do what’s the most difficult and take the capital — the political capital, the risks — and actually do things?” Braun said. “Otherwise, you don’t practice what you preach.”
Next week, several Republican candidates will again meet on stage in two televised debates — the first on FOX59/CBS4 and the second on WISH-TV. Hill didn’t qualify for the first debate, held on Tuesday, March 26. Reitenour didn’t qualify for either the Tuesday debate or the Wednesday one.
By Whitney Downard – The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, not-for-profit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
