Who pays the referendum tax?

Only those who pay property tax in the Hamilton Southeastern Schools (HSE) district pay the referendum tax. Commercial rental property owners may choose to pass the tax on to their tenants. Senior citizens, homeowners, mortgage holders and some other types of taxpayers receive exemptions that lower their assessed value and lessen the impact of the tax rate compared to others. By law, the rate is applied to the net assessed value of the property after these deductions. The law does not exempt classes of taxpayers from the rate. For instance, charging only property taxpayers with children in the schools would be considered tuition and against the law established by the Indiana Constitution that says education is tuition free and available to all. The 2023 renewal is at a reduced rate from the 2016 referendum, meaning the referendum will not cause a tax increase but will actually cause the tax impact on homestead properties to decrease by 19.1% in 2024.