Get the Blueprint

Manufacturing NewsTEG DailyOctober 2, 2026

October 2, 2026 · Statewide · Story 1 of 3

Indiana Industrial Assessed Value Surge Leaves a TIF Depreciation Gap

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Berger ties the increase to factory growth, reclassified farmland, and the first update to industrial construction cost tables in four years. New base on the tax roll doesn't raise the bill on your existing plant by itself, and rates and levies get recalculated as values rise. But when industrial value grows three times faster than residential, more of the levy falls on manufacturers wherever the circuit-breaker cap doesn't already limit it.

Senate Bill 1 eliminated Indiana's 30% depreciation floor for equipment placed in service after January 1, 2025, but property inside TIF allocation areas kept that floor. If your plant sits inside a TIF district, equipment you place in service from 2025 forward stops depreciating at 30% once it ages, while a competitor outside the district can write the same machines down further. Ask your county auditor whether your parcel sits in a TIF allocation area, and ask your tax advisor how any abatement you hold interacts with that floor.

For your morning huddle

Q

Is my plant inside a TIF district, and does that change how my equipment depreciates?

Check with your county auditor to confirm whether your parcel sits in a TIF allocation area. If it does, equipment placed in service from 2025 forward stops depreciating at the 30% floor once it ages, while a competitor outside the district can write the same machines down further.

Briefing note

In a September 24, 2026 commentary, Indiana Manufacturers Association President and CEO Andrew Berger cited new Department of Local Government Finance data showing statewide industrial assessed value jumped 25.8% for the 2026 assessment year (the biggest one-year increase in years) versus 15.0% for commercial and 7.3% for residential. Berger attributes the spike to manufacturing growth and data-center-driven land reclassification, plus the state's first update to industrial construction cost tables in four years.

Impact
The 2025 property tax overhaul (Senate Bill 1 / Public Law 68) eliminated Indiana's 30% depreciation floor for new equipment placed in service after January 1, 2025, but explicitly kept that floor for property inside TIF districts, meaning manufacturers who took TIF-based incentive packages to locate in Indiana are now permanently stuck with the nation's highest depreciation floor on new equipment while competitors outside TIF zones get relief. At the same time, Amazon reported $561 million in state sales and use tax exemptions in 2024-2025 and secured local abatements in St. Joseph and Lake counties, so the same data-center growth driving up industrial AV is partly shielded from the tax hit that traditional manufacturers must absorb in full.
Watch
Watch the 2026 legislative session, where further homeowner property tax relief is expected to be debated and could push even more levy burden onto industrial and commercial payers; also watch whether Gov. Braun's June 2026 comments about the assessment system being 'opaque' translate into a 2027 cost-table reform proposal.

From the brief, October 2, 2026

  1. Indiana Industrial Assessed Value Surge Leaves a TIF Depreciation Gap
  2. Amazon's Greenwood Robotics Plant Will Recruit Your Welders and CNC Operators
  3. Derecho and NIPSCO Outage Cost Konrady Plastics a Month of Overtime

The whole day’s brief →

Related

Manufacturers Energy Grant Program

Free for Indiana manufacturers

Manufacturers from qualifying Indiana counties receive a free monthly 35-point audit of their electric bills for cost recovery and savings. Every line item checked and validated, every opportunity found comes with a step-by-step guide to capture it.

Claim your GrantCheck out the program

EDCs: sponsor this program and it carries your organization's name For economic developers →