Governor Mike Braun says he’s likely to extend the pause on gas taxes, but he also wants to expand grant funding for road projects.
The current suspension runs through Wednesday. "The dynamics look about the same," Braun told reporters in South Bend last week. "Likely to extend it. That would take it through early December."
He said something more permanent would require discussions with lawmakers, once their session starts in January, but he said they need to consider the rising cost of road maintenance. He wants to increase Community Crossings grants, which provide state help for local projects.
“I intend to try to do more of them along with READI grants — a READI 3.0 — and the reason we’re able to do it is because our cash flow’s been the best it’s ever been,” Braun said.
The gas tax was one of several affordability measures touted by the governor during the Indianapolis Business Journal’s Innovate North Central Indiana event.
"We delivered record property tax relief back in April of ‘25," Braun told reporters. "Homes will be two-thirds exempted from property taxes over the next three or four years, phased in, and there’ll be another discussion there."
But the property tax reform has been widely criticized by local governments. Some of them are raising other taxes and fees, to make up for lost revenue — or cutting projects. Braun said their budgets have to be healthy.
“They had the challenges of coming through COVID where their expenses went up 25 percent in ‘22, '23 and '24. Have to kind of get back on the wagon to where we grow not too much more than the fastest-growing economy in the country, which is about three percent a year,” Braun said in a fireside chat during the event.
The governor said he helped “right-size” the state government, after it became “bloated” during the pandemic. State lawmakers made cuts to several programs in the 2025 budget, in response to a revenue forecast that Braun now says was “faulty.” He said the projected shortfalls didn’t happen, and instead, the state has been able to build up its reserves.
