Indiana’s Sheriff Enrichment Fee

Monday, February 26, 2007

The state of Indiana has a peculiar system for collecting back taxes. Indiana charges a 10% fee for unpaid state taxes, and many counties allow their sheriffs to keep some or all of the fee for themselves. From 2005-2006, Frank Anderson, a sheriff from Marion County, Indiana, pocketed $443,000 in tax collection fees—on top of a salary that was six figures to begin with. The Indianapolis Star noted that the sheriff made more money than the governor of Indiana, the mayor of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis police chief combined.

It’s not as if the state is awash in cash. Some Indiana city councils, facing budget shortfalls, are actually considering resolutions that would make inmates pay to be in jail.

Many other sheriffs in Indiana get to collect a fee based on prison meal budgets: the less food prisoners get, the bigger the incentives for the sheriffs. The sheriff of Gibson County was paid an extra $107,000 for underfeeding the inmates.

Allowing sheriffs to keep the state’s tax collection fees rather than put the money into the general fund or public safety measures is a misplaced policy. There is a unacceptable chance that public safety issues are being ignored as sheriffs focus on tax collection.

For instance, Indianapolis, which is located in Marlon County, is currently suffering a significant upswing in crime. Commenting on the Sheriff Enrichment Fee, an Indianapolis resident with the handle “nowayout” wrote that “This city is like living in Armageddon,” and added that the position of sheriff should be abolished.

Lawrence Buell, R-Indianapolis, introduced a bill that would have ended the practice, but no Democrat would co-sponsor it and the bill died last week. Some local politicos reflected that sheriffs are often the most popular political figures at the county level in Indiana, and that the state representatives feared a square off.

Until those in power have the courage to end the policy, no one in Indiana should be surprised to see sheriffs comporting themselves like Robin Hood’s Sheriff of Nottingham.

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