Published: July 03, 2009 01:54 pm      

Sen. Evan Bayh touts property tax relief in Southern Indiana

Visits New Albany homeowner to talk up bill

NEW ALBANY — Catherine Moeller-Cunanan said she found out Sunday that Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh was going to pay her a visit.

While she was thrilled to have a U.S. senator at her home, she was even more excited with what he had to say.

Bayh made his rounds through the state Thursday touting the Homeowner Tax Fairness Act of 2009 — which he authored. One of his stops was at 2597 Roanoke Ave., the home of Moeller-Cunanan and her husband, Che.

The bill — which he said would help 582,000 Indiana homeowners and 20 million nationwide — allows homeowners who do not itemize their deductions on federal income tax returns to deduct their property taxes. He said those taxpayers should not be penalized just because they do not itemize.

Which is good news to Moeller-Cunanan.

“We do everything we can to meet our financial commitments. We live paycheck-to-paycheck,” said Moeller-Cunanan, who is an orchestra teacher at Farnsley Middle School in Louisville.

Moeller-Cunanan is like millions of middle-class and elderly homeowners, according to Bayh.

“These are difficult times for many middle-class families,” he said. “The federal government should do everything it can to relieve those burdens.”

The Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 includes Bayh’s provision to allow nonitemizers to deduct up to $500 or $1,000 for joint filers of their property taxes. The provision was for 2008 and extended to 2009.

Bayh wants to not only make his provision permanent, but also lift the caps on what homeowners can deduct.

He said 18 senators co-authored his bill in 2008, including President Barack Obama, who at the time was the junior senator from Illinois. He said he has bipartisan support.

“I’m very optimistic we will get this extended. No one likes property taxes,” Bayh said.

He said getting the cap lifted and making the cuts permanent will be a little more difficult. He said it is projected to cost $2.3 billion, but said cutting some special earmarks would cover the cost.

“It comes down to priorities,” he said.