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Economics
MADVoters seeks to improve economic equity by prioritizing consumer affordability and protections over corporate profits and private interests.
We advocate for policies that:
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Reduce costs for utilities, housing, and everyday essentials.
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Invest in services to lift families out of poverty.
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Hold corporations accountable and ensure the wealthy pay their fair share.
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Improve working conditions and worker pay.
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TALKING POINTS
UTILITIES
Indiana residents pay above-average utility bills, the highest in the Midwest. Electric bills are 22% higher now than in 2000, even after being adjusted for inflation. With incoming data centers, rate hike approvals, and flimsy regulations that prioritize corporate profits over affordability, many Hoosiers are feeling the pressure – and bills will continue to rise.
Investor owned utilities (IOUs) serve 75% of Indiana customers and account for 78% of total electric sales and 77% of total revenue collected. Indiana’s IOUs include Duke, Indiana Michigan Power, NIPSCO, AES, and CenterPoint. These companies are state-regulated monopolies: they each have an exclusive service territory where they are the ONLY utility that is allowed to serve that area.The IURC (Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission) regulates these companies and approves their requests for rate increases.
Click the image to view MADVoters Economics Advocacy Series, or download a PDF version here.
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These rate hikes translate to a higher bill for customers. Utility companies say the rate increases are necessary to modernize their infrastructure, develop new plants and pipelines, implement energy and money-saving programs, and comply with environmental requirements such as cleaning up coal ash storage sites.
However, these companies are also beholden to their investors. The higher their profits, the better the returns. Rate hikes can also be disproportionately applied to residential customers, instead of industrial customers. This means that families may bear the brunt of these increases, while businesses experience less of a rate increase.
Utilities have used their power and influence to secure legislation that benefits their business: In the last 10 years, Indiana’s 5 investor-owned utilities have given over $5 million to politicians. Indiana’s current system of prioritizing corporate profits isn't a flaw in the system - It's how the system was designed. Even though fossil fuels are more expensive and more volatile, the system rewards that risk with guaranteed rates of return. But it's not the utility companies who are taking on the risk - it's Hoosiers who have to shoulder the burden of increased utility costs, pollution, and contaminated air and water.
Sources: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2025/07/24/hoosiers-energy-affordability-crisis-consumers-electricity-bills-utilities/85336392007/, https://www.citact.org/campaign/indiana-energy-utility-background, https://www.citact.org/indiana-state-legislators-have-caused-drastic-utility-bill-increases
DATA CENTERS
Data centers are essentially massive “cloud” warehouses for computers and servers. They store, manage, and process large amounts of data. With the rapid increase in AI, companies like Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft are building hyper-scale AI data centers. These facilities are one of the most energy intensive facilities in the world and use significant amounts of water and electricity. Indiana’s utility companies have confirmed that these AI data centers will require enormous amounts of energy and water, potentially leading to increases of Hoosiers’ energy bills and contributing to increased pollution.
Indiana’s lax regulatory environment makes it an appealing site for data centers and other Big Industry. 2019’s HB 1405 gives sales and use tax exemptions to data centers for up to 50 years. Yet no laws have been passed that require data centers to report on their energy or water usage or that hold data centers accountable for their impact on the community.
Plus, data centers are getting millions in tax breaks -- $655 million in sales and use tax exemptions alone, according to recent reporting from 13 News. That doesn't even include property tax abatements that many of these sites also receive. In other words, data centers and other big industries in Indiana are often paying less taxes than you do. That’s a loss of local funding that should be supporting Hoosier communities. Instead, lawmakers have written policies that force homeowners and residents to shoulder a greater tax burden in order to give tax cuts to these enormously wealthy industries.
HOUSING
Corporate ownership of housing is becoming a monopoly in Indiana, out-competing individual home buyers with all-cash offers in over 70% of transactions. This allows them to dictate the market, pricing out competitors and leaving Hoosiers with poor quality housing options. Thousands of rental homes in Marion County alone are owned by out-of-state corporate investors, meaning millions of dollars in rent payments leave Indiana every month. These out-of-state corporate investors also incur more code violations than local landlords, contributing to blight and unsafe living conditions.
About 30% of Hoosier households are renters, yet many of them don’t make enough money to adequately cover rent plus other costs of living. Rental costs have outpaced wage growth; Indiana’s renter income is in last place in the Midwest. In 90 of Indiana’s 92 counties, and in 25 of the state’s 26 metro areas, the average renter wage is insufficient to meet the two-bedroom Housing Wage (identified as $22.18, where housing cost is no more than 30% of an individual’s income).
Hoosier homeowners were promised property tax relief, but the plan Republicans delivered in 2025 gave businesses a tax cut at the expense of homeowners, schools, and local governments. Their property tax overhaul provides for a maximum property tax credit of $300 and a levy growth cap. It is projected to cost local governments and schools roughly $1.8 billion in reduced funding over the next few years.
Source: fhcci.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Who-Owns-Indy-Homes-8-9-23-3.pdf, https://housing4hoosiers.org/2025/07/17/out-of-reach/ https://commentaries.cberdata.org
SOCIAL SERVICES
In recent years, lawmakers have cut funding for and imposed eligibility restrictions on social services like CCDF childcare vouchers, SNAP (food stamps), and Medicaid (particularly HIP). In 2025, Indiana FSSA slashed reimbursement rates for CCDF childcare providers, forcing providers to either drop clients, operate at a loss, or close entirely. Lack of affordable childcare keeps people, particularly women, out of the workforce. Workplace absences due to childcare problems cost Indiana employers an estimated $3.05 billion per year.
Recent state laws have added additional eligibility requirements for SNAP and Medicaid, which increase administrative cost and burden, as well as the risk of disenrolling eligible patients due to administrative error.
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill slashed federal funding for Medicaid, cutting $31 billion from Indiana Medicaid, including almost $13 billion in hospital funding, over the next decade. 180,000 Hoosiers are projected to lose their Medicaid coverage due to this change. The BBB also cut about 20% ($187 billion) from federal SNAP funding. The lack of federal funding will force states to pick up the tab or cut services. Indiana could be on the hook for $143 million in SNAP funding starting in 2028.
Source: https://www.thestatehousefile.com/politics/two-thirds-of-indiana-counties-lack-enough-child-care-report-says/article_2823758c-547a-11ec-b049-ef594a41204f.html, https://www.indianachamber.com/new-report-assesses-impact-of-indianas-childcare-challenges-for-employers-workers/ , https://indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/10/30/fssa-simply-does-not-have-the-funding-no-new-indiana-child-care-vouchers-to-be-issued-until-2027/,
indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/07/14/medicaid-cuts-all-hoosiers-will-feel,
https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/by-the-numbers-harmful-republican-megabill-takes-food-assistance-away-from
WORKING CONDITIONS
In 2012, Indiana passed the “Right to Work” law that prohibited requiring union dues as a condition of employment. RTW laws are proven to contribute to lower wages, less health insurance, less retirement security, and more workplace injuries for all workers
In recent years, Indiana has significantly rolled back child labor protections, leaving minors vulnerable to workplace exploitation, particularly low-income children and those helping to support their families.
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2020: Employers are no longer required to provide a minor with a break or lunch - regardless of the number of hours worked in a day.
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2021: Lawmakers eliminate work permits for minors.
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2023: Labor law violations involving teens hit a nine-year high.
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2024: Lawmakers remove all restrictions on shifts for 16 and 17 year old employees; these children may now work any shift an adult can work (including overnight), with or without adult supervision, regardless of their school schedule, including “hazardous agriculture jobs.”
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2026: lawmakers remove state child labor reporting requirements for businesses.
Source: https://www.indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2026/03/05/braun-signs-bill-eliminating-child-labor-tracking-in-indiana,
https://www.southbendtribune.com/story/news/local/2024/12/27/three-laws-set-to-change-in-indiana-effective-jan-1-call-before-you-dig-child-labor-income-tax-rate/77182604007,
indystar.com/story/news/investigations/2025/02/19/as-lawmaker-relaxed-regulations-child-labor-violations-spiked-in-indiana-as-regulations-were-relaxed/77512769007,
https://www.midwestepi.org/2023/11/06/how-has-a-so-called-right-to-work-law-impacted-indianas-manufacturing-sector/