Hoosiers for Opportunity, Prosperity and Enterprise (HOPE) has a new poll showing widespread support of property tax reform in Indiana. (Screenshot)
A nonprofit advocating for Gov. Mike Braun’s legislative agenda is taking lawmakers to task — and praising them, too — with a mid-six figure social media campaign.
Hoosiers for Opportunity, Prosperity and Enterprise (HOPE) also shared a new poll with the Indiana Capital Chronicle showing widespread support of property tax reform in Indiana.
At the midpoint of the legislative session, the nonprofit arm of Braun’s campaign is using both avenues to increase awareness — especially on property taxes.
“We feel good about where we are at halftime. There is plenty of time to get property taxes over the hump,” HOPE President Ryan Black said.
He said the negative ads focus on property taxes and the positive ones on health care and education. So far, they just highlight senators and not representatives.
“We’re focused on promoting the governor’s agenda, and a world can exist where someone makes the wrong vote or doesn’t stand up enough on something like property taxes, and at the same time is leading on something like health care reform,” Black added.
HOPE filed with the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office in 2023 to advocate for policies that “lead to economic growth.” It released five detailed plans — on agriculture, education, health care, inflation and public safety — on Braun’s behalf.
The day after Braun’s electoral victory, HOPE expanded its role to include transition and inauguration help. And the group is promoting his agenda in the Indiana General Assembly.
The ads began popping up last week.
For example, one against Sen. Brian Buchanan, R-Lebanon, was labeled a “Taxpayer Alert” and said, “Brian Buchanan voted to remove Governor Braun’s tax cuts and now your property taxes will keep going up! Tell him to restore Governor Braun’s property tax cut now!”
A similar ad targeted Sen. Linda Rogers, R-Granger: “Thanks to Linda Rogers your taxes will continue to increase. Linda had the chance to stand up for taxpayers but chose to stand with government instead. She voted to gut Governor Braun’s tax relief plan that would save homeowners over $1 billion on their property taxes.”
Both senators were among those who voted to vastly amend Braun’s property tax plan in committee and supported passage of the diluted bill on the floor.
This week there are many more positive ads from HOPE popping up, featuring at least six Senate Republicans including Buchanan and Rogers.
“Thank you, Senator Brian Buchanan for supporting Governor Braun’s Freedom and Opportunity Agenda!” one read.
Braun was asked about the ads Tuesday and said it’s all about moderation.
“Healthy conversation, even when it pushes you the wrong direction or might push the folks that you want to engage in the conversation in a way. I’d say, don’t go overboard with it. But if it’s information that needs to be out there, hopefully it’s uncomfortable only because it’s addressing something that needs to be changed in a positive way,” he told reporters.
He added that “if that’s your only approach, it’ll probably be unproductive.”
That’s why Black also said the group conducted a poll about two weeks ago that supports Braun’s position on property tax cuts, nonprofit hospital pricing, school vouchers and more.
Mark it Red — a Republican campaign consulting company — conducted a poll of 908 likely Indiana voters. It used a mix of live interviews, cell phone and landline calls and test message panels. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.25%.
The first question simply said, “Property tax bills in Indiana are too high” with about 78% of the respondents agreeing and 17% disagreeing.
Another question asked if the respondent would support a proposal resetting residential property tax bills back to 2021 levels and capping any increase on all properties to 3% per year and 2% on residential properties of senior citizens, low-income residents and households with children under 18.
Those are the items from Braun’s plan that was removed from Senate Bill 1.
About 79% supported it and 10% opposed.
A third question provided more context on spending, though with some persuasive language.
Black said he expected the opposition to property taxes but was surprised by the level of intensity against them.
“Something that jumped out to me on the poll … a lot of folks, are like, ‘Let’s just get rid of it all together.’ I guess that was somewhat illuminating for me,” he said. “I think the level of intensity there was a little more than I expected.”
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