Indiana lieutenant governor candidates talked about property taxes, renewable energy and farmland preservation at their first debate, hosted by Indiana AgrIInstitute at the Indiana State Fair. The candidates at the debate included Republican Micah Beckwith, Democrat Terry Goodin and Libertarian Tonya Hudson.

The overarching theme of the debate was slashing property taxes. Capping property tax increases and cutting property taxes entirely were some of the proposed solutions offered by the candidates. Below are their responses to this topic:

Beckwith: Farmers have seen a 26.2% increase in property taxes from last year to this year. That’s insane. That’s out of control. Farmers need relief. Mike Braun launched his plan that says 3% is going to be the cap. It can’t grow 26% each year. We’re going to grow with economic stability and make sure that farmers are not seeing these wide swaths of huge jumps in their property taxes. Ultimately, it’s the legislature’s job to fix it.

Goodin: As we work on a significant plan that’s going to cut property taxes to those who pay them, we’ve also got to realize that we can’t cut services as well. As we move forward, we will sit down, and we will look and see what kind of things the state of Indiana needs.

How does the state of Indiana replace property taxes that are cut at the local level? Because if state government is going to cut property taxes, which is a local tax, then state government should have to replace that tax. What state politicians need to say is that we’re going to quit making custom property tax until we find out what we can do to lower your property taxes, and that is through growth.

Hudson: Our legacy family farmers are parceling off part of their land to get money to make ends meet. Times are hard for everybody — farmers, Hoosiers, small businesses. The tax plan is to abolish property taxes because you should not be paying property taxes on a home that you already own, whether you’re a farmer or senior citizen living on Social Security.

The plan is, instead of property taxes, when you buy a home, you pay a 7% sales tax. If you can’t afford the 7% at closing, you can pay 1% each year for seven years.

Renewable energy

The panelists posed a series of questions about renewable energy to the candidates. How will they protect rural communities from commercial projects while upholding landowner rights? What is the balance between local control and the need for increased renewable energy productions as most of our coal-fired electricity generation comes offline in the next few years?

Beckwith: We need to make sure that we are not selling our soul because the highest bidder is coming in with development dollars that say, “Give us your farmland. We’re going to put all kinds of renewables on it, or all kinds of new apartments on it.”

I’m an ardent supporter of property rights, but at the same time, we were incentivizing bad behavior for some of these big conglomerates to come in and get all these tax abatements. Mom and dad, who own the farm, can’t turn that down because they’re living on a dime. We can’t keep incentivizing hostile takeover of our farmland.

Goodin: We must get the people who are going to be impacted the most involved in the process. What we’ve had in the last 20 years in Indiana is nontransparent government, a government that does not let folks know what is going on in our state.

What we’ve got to do is bring together the farmers, the landowners, the local government. We’ve got to bring the state together. Everyone needs to sit down at the table and figure out what this solar energy process looks like moving forward. We also must keep in mind what the next resource or invention might be for energy in 10 years.

Hudson: There definitely is a balance. Libertarians are for the free-market principle, and I see and hear from both sides of the argument regarding solar panels. I think that if the solar producers implement their panels in an appropriate manner, safe to where they’re not harming their communities, then farmers can do what they want with their land. It’s their land.

And if you have solar panels, which I’m told is just a small percentage of large farmland owners, along with sheep grazing, that can be an economic benefit to the local communities. But like I said, the producers need to be mindful of not harming their communities, and I think they are trying to do that. We need alternative electricity, but government should stay out of the way and not dictate how farmers use their land.

Water quantity

When asked about water quantity issues and the Limitless Exploration Advanced Pace (LEAP) project, candidates’ answers varied. Hudson called for collaboration with legislators to move away from water being treated like a commodity. Goodin says that Indiana needs to get together and create policy for all the people affected by water use in the state. Beckwith sees this as a transparency issue, with LEAP running “off the rails” because there was no transparency. He wants to involve the locals and ensure resources get to the right place.

Buzzwords and common phrases shared by the candidates in their closing statements include more money in your pocket, teamwork and opportunity.

For more information on the candidates and upcoming election, visit BallotPedia.