Indianapolis Business Journal. December 23, 2022.
Editorial: State should experiment with more tourism spending
The state’s tourism agency is seeking an $18 million increase in funding over the next two years as it works to increase the number of people who see Indiana as a destination.
In total, the Indiana Destination Development Corp. is requesting a baseline annual budget of $14.8 million in both 2024 and 2025, as well as more than $8 million in additional pass-through funding for museums, entertainment venues and a new tourism bid fund meant to attract more events, according to IBJ reporter Mickey Shuey (see page 8A).
The baseline budget for the current fiscal year is $5.8 million.
The budget request—which lawmakers will consider when they reconvene in January—is pared way back from initial plans to ask for up to $40 million per year. That would have put Indiana’s tourism spending more in line with tourism budgets in neighboring states. But after conversations with the State Budget Agency, the Indiana Destination Development Corp. settled on a much lower number—one that would still make it significantly more competitive.
We urge lawmakers to take a serious look at this request—but to do so with strings attached.
Policymakers learned this week that, despite projections for a mild downturn, state tax revenue will likely increase by $1.6 billion during the next two-year budget cycle. Of course, much of that will be eaten up by increases in education spending (just a 1% increase in public school funding costs the state $75 million a year), Medicaid costs and employee raises.
But we think the state should experiment a bit with spending more to attract out-of-state visitors.
Indiana’s tourism budget has been underfunded compared with those of its neighbors for decades. And maybe that’s never seemed like a huge problem. But at a time when flexibility at work means people have more opportunities to choose where they want to live, Indiana should be doing all it can to show off what being a Hoosier—whether permanently or simply during vacation—is all about.
Of course, there’s no way to know in advance whether increased tourism spending will achieve that goal. That’s why a boost in spending should be accompanied by requirements for tracking where the money goes and whether it leads to increased visitation or a boosted reputation. If the tourism dollars show a healthy return on investment, then the additional spending can continue. If not, lawmakers can pull back on it.
A key, of course, will be spending enough to make an impact. Already, the State Budget Agency—which reviews department spending requests—has significantly scaled back the amount the Indiana Destination Development Corp. initially thought would make it more competitive. So cutting the request any more might make it impossible for the agency to be successful in attracting more people.
Instead, lawmakers should earmark additional spending toward tourism over the next two years and monitor the results carefully. They might find a few extra million make a big difference in not only tourism but the state’s workforce as well.
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. December 26, 2022.
Editorial: Survey illuminates what Hoosiers want from the General Assembly
According to a Virginia-based pollster, Hoosiers want the General Assembly to focus on reducing health care costs, tackling affordable housing and improving education funding.
Will those elected to that body listen?
“We asked all 1,000 voters we interviewed what they thought the top priority for the Indiana state legislature should be in 2023,” Bellwether Research & Consulting summarized in a release last Sunday. “Very clearly – it is not more restrictions on abortion.”
Bellwether, helmed by Indiana University alum Christine Matthews, surveyed Indiana registered voters using a mix-mode of online and text-to-web contact between Dec. 11-17. The poll’s sampling error margin is plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Of the survey respondents answering the question “Of the following, which should be the top priority for the Indiana state legislature next year,” 31% said lowering health care costs should be the legislature’s focus.
Increasing affordable housing and K-12 education funding were at 21% and 17%, respectively. Expanding renewable energy use and funding public health programs both garnered 9%.
Restricting access to mail-order abortion pills was at 3%.
We could not agree more with House Minority Leader Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, who told the Indianapolis Star last month: “Let’s give the social issues a rest this session. … I don’t think, frankly, it does our state any good if we are on the national news with these types of issues.”
And what’s the supermajority touting this term? More tax cuts.
It’s not surprising because this habitual insistence on low taxes as the best bait for businesses is Pavlovian. Yet, Indiana has missed opportunities as our workforce is not suited for high-end tech sector operations.
Study after study, hearing after hearing shows that Indiana is getting lapped by other states due to our deficits in educational attainment, health care outcomes and costs, as well as our timid move toward alternative energy resources. The cumulative effect of the legislature’s single-mindedness on taxation is pronounced.
Don’t take our word for it. Listen to Ball State University’s Michael Hicks, a well-regarded economist.
“I think it would be important over the long run to change the focus of the debate about taxes from simply looking at the rates and trying to use the marginal tax rate as a way to attract economic activity,” Hicks told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “It hasn’t worked here; it doesn’t work really anywhere.”
Don’t want to listen to an academic? Well, Eli Lilly and Company’s CEO, Dave Ricks, laid out what the pharmaceutical company needs from the state, and it isn’t simply lowering taxes.
“For firms competing in the innovation economy, like Eli Lilly and Company, the breadth of considerations is even greater,” he wrote in a Journal Gazette op-ed published last May. “Unfortunately, on these expanding measures of attractiveness, Indiana fares poorly.”
Save for some magic charm to break the tax-cut spell that clouds the reason for the supermajority, our best hope is for brave legislators on both sides of the aisle to push bills that consider the long-term benefits for all Hoosiers rather than the short-term gains for the few.
Hoosiers have spoken about what they want the elected to accomplish when they meet.
We hope the legislature is listening.
END
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