LaPorte County residents could soon be paying more in income tax.
The county council is set to vote Monday on a local income tax of 0.2 percent to be set aside for emergency medical services. That would bring LaPorte County’s total local income tax to 1.65 percent.
A big reason for the income tax hike is to offset revenues lost to property tax caps, according to Trista Hudson with Cender-Dalton Municipal Advisors.
“Deductions are increasing. Business personal property taxes are reducing because of the benefits that they were given in SEA 1,” Hudson told council members earlier this month.
She said the amount of money LaPorte County has lost to property tax caps has increased from about $6.1 million in 2025 to a projected $10 million in 2027, with about $1.7 million of that due to new tax credits.
The proposed income tax hike also comes as the county faces millions of dollars in capital improvement needs. County Commissioner Steve Holifield told council members they have a tough decision to make.
“The EMS base – I took a tour of that. It’s in pretty rough shape. Before your next meeting, you’ll do a workshop. You’re going to find out some more staggering news about the courthouse. There’s a lot of things that need to be taken care of in this county,” Holifield said.
For a family earning the median income, the new tax would mean another $11 or $12 in income taxes per month, while the county would get another $7.1 million dollars a year. While that’s set aside for EMS, Hudson said that would ease pressure on the county’s general fund, potentially freeing money for other uses.
Still, not everyone was in favor. During the public hearing, resident Bob Garrelts asked council members to vote it down.
"Everybody else has their hand out: food, gas, everything," Garrelts said. "I think there’s got to be a better way. I would hope there’s got to be a better way than going after this EMS LIT."
If approved, LaPorte County’s local income tax rate would still be lower than neighboring Starke and St. Joseph counties’, but higher than Porter County’s.
