Boland says he’s the small-town candidate

Mike Boland sees himself as the candidate for small-town Indiana.
Boland made a stop Wednesday in Portland to discuss his run against Republican Kelly Mitchell for state treasurer, saying his priorities include education, being an advocate for taxpayers and keeping Indiana money in the Hoosier state.
“I’m going to be the state treasurer for the small communities and small towns around our state,” he said. “I think I have the creative ideas … that can help a community like Portland, like this county.”
Boland, a former teacher who served as a representative in the Illinois Senate for 16 years before retiring and moving to Indiana to be close to his grandchildren, was critical of current treasurer Richard Mourdock and Mitchell on the issue of interest rates. He said he believes its possible to negotiate rates in the 1.5 percent range as opposed to the state’s current 0.91 percent for its investments.
“We can do better than what has been done, and that’s important, because every dollar that we can get in interest from our investments means more money that we can spend on roads or on schools or give back to the taxpayers,” said Boland, adding that he’d like to see that money invested in Indiana banks rather than on Wall Street.
He took aim at changes the state legislature made during the 2014 session to allow counties to decide whether to eliminate or keep the business personal property tax. He supports eliminating the tax, an idea pushed by Governor Mike Pence, but said it should be a state-wide decision.
“It’s terrible, because it sets up competition,” said Boland of leaving the decision to the counties. “And what we’re going to have is a race to the bottom. Everybody’s going to try to outdo the neighboring county.
“It’s going to breed hard feelings, which we don’t need.”
And while he thinks eliminating the tax would be positive for economic development, he said it should not be done without replacing those tax dollars for local government units.
He suggested some of the state’s more than $2 billion surplus could be used for that purpose. Keeping some of that money — $250 to $300 million — in reserve is a good idea, he said, but he’d like to see the rest put to use.
“Just having $2 billion sitting there does nothing for our state really,” Boland said. “If we invest it in education, invest it in roads … reduce the taxes that are bad, that’s a wise use of that money.”
He also put an emphasis on the importance of education at all levels, saying he plans to travel throughout the state promoting the 529 Plan for college savings that he feels can be useful in helping students keeping debt under control. He’d also like to expand it, bumping the tax credit up to 25 percent from the current 20.
“That’s not only good for the individual, it’s also good for the economy of Indiana,” said Boland. “If we want to bring in more high-wage jobs, we’re going to have to have a better-educated workforce.”