Sales and excise taxes should be fair and stable, not used for social engineering or quick cash grabs—tax policy should prioritize predictable revenue over punishing legal behavior. Illinois serves as a warning—with excessive taxes on products like JUUL and Zyn used to fund more spending instead of making tough budget decisions. Iowa must avoid that path—by rejecting gimmicky tax hikes and focusin...
Policy Should Solve Real Problems: Before supporting any proposal, ask whether it actually fixes the issue or just offers a political talking point—good intentions aren’t enough. Always Follow the Money and the Power: Who pays? Who benefits? Does the proposal expand government or reduce its role in people’s lives? Think Long-Term, Not Just Headlines: Every policy has tradeoffs. These seven questio...
Spending Restraint Is Key to Real Tax Relief: Both the Chicago Tribune and Texas Governor Greg Abbott agree that meaningful property tax reform must be rooted in limiting local government spending, a lesson Iowa should heed. Weak Caps Undermine Reform: Iowa’s recent attempts at a 2% property tax cap were diluted by exemptions, echoing similar challenges in Texas where loopholes have allowed spendi...
Limited Scope, Misplaced Focus: Iowa’s sales tax holiday offers short-term savings on clothing but excludes essential school supplies like backpacks, notebooks, and calculators—items families actually need for back-to-school. Inconsistent with Regional Trends: While Iowa clings to its sales tax holiday, most neighboring states have eliminated theirs, signaling a broader shift away from such exemp...
The panic and even hysteria over the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” and the proposed DOGE cuts demonstrate not only how dependent states and localities are on the federal government, but also how far we have drifted away from constitutional government.
Iowa lawmakers are considering two constitutional amendments—one to require a two-thirds supermajority to raise income taxes and another to protect the state’s flat tax rate—to safeguard taxpayers and limit government growth. Additional reforms, including constitutional spending limits and protections for the Taxpayer Relief Fund, would reinforce Iowa’s commitment to fiscal conservatism and prote...
Iowa’s fiscal position is strong, but rising spending and short-term revenue declines from tax reforms make it critical for lawmakers to prioritize long-term budget discipline. To support this goal, policymakers could strengthen the state’s spending cap by tying budget growth to population and inflation, and adopt priority-based budgeting and independent efficiency audits to control costs and ens...
No reform will work until local governments rein in their budgets. Property taxes remain a significant concern for taxpayers. In addition, they are a hindrance to economic growth. Taxpayers are demanding meaningful property tax relief, and that will only occur when legislators address the cause. Local government spending drives high property taxes, and the solution for property tax relief will on...
What Iowa’s $11.5 Billion in School Funding Reveals in a Post-SCOTUS Landscape Each year, the Iowa legislature revisits the question of how much funding to allocate toward K–12 public education. At the same time, property taxpayers review proposed spending requests from their local school districts. And not to be left out, the federal government invests in K-12 education in Iowa, too. Now, with ...
With the passage of the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” Iowans avoided a catastrophic tax increase. But even with many positives in the measure, there are still reasons to keep a sharp eye on what lies ahead. Washington’s spending—and the national debt—will continue to grow in the near term, but that trajectory cannot continue indefinitely. Iowa policymakers must begin to prepare for contingencies to prot...
Iowa’s fiscal health remains strong, with billions in reserves, projected surpluses, and a fully funded Taxpayer Relief Fund, even amid tax reform transitions. Government spending—especially in education and Medicaid—is the key risk to long-term stability, not reduced tax revenues. Conservative budgeting must remain the priority; surpluses and reserve funds are tools for stability, not invitations...
Truth-in-Taxation policies aim to increase transparency and accountability in local government budgeting, especially around property taxes. Utah’s model, enacted in 1985, is considered the national gold standard because it controls property tax growth by focusing on limiting revenue, not rates. Iowa’s current system lacks key components, relying instead on partial transparency measures that do not...
President Calvin Coolidge and Governor Theodore Christianson both warned against the long-term dangers of federal subsidies, arguing they undermine state responsibility, expand bureaucracy, and erode taxpayer accountability. Both leaders viewed federalism as a constitutional principle—not just a policy preference—critical to preserving liberty, state sovereignty, and the ability for states to gov...
The “One Big, Beautiful Bill” and proposed DOGE spending cuts have sparked widespread concern among state and local leaders who fear the loss of federal funds, particularly for programs like Medicaid and SNAP. This reaction exposes the extent to which state and local governments have become reliant on federal dollars—despite the Constitution’s original design for a limited national government and ...
How school districts spend our tax dollars is important to watch—but just as important is understanding what taxpayers are getting in return. K-12 education is the largest consumer of Iowa’s General Fund revenues (such as income and sales taxes) and local property tax dollars. With such a significant investment, Iowans deserve to see strong academic outcomes. Unfortunately, too many of Iowa’s publ...
With passage of the “Big, Beautiful, Bill,” Iowa taxpayers avoided a massive tax increase, but even with the positives of the measure there are still reasons for caution. Federal spending, along with the national debt, will both continue to increase and Iowa policymakers must begin to prepare for contingencies of potential cuts to federal funds.
Property tax collections from Iowa schools, cities (1,000+ population), and counties grew by $239.8 million—or 3.9%—from FY 2025 to FY 2026. Schools led the increase with a 4.4% rise, followed by cities at 4.2% and counties at 2.7%. Over the past two years, total property tax growth across these local governments has exceeded 10%, raising concerns about long-term taxpayer impact and spending disci...
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How the American Revolution’s fight over taxation without representation still echoes in today’s battle against rising property taxes in Iowa. As we gather each July 4th for fireworks, pool parties, cookouts, and time with family, it’s easy to forget what the holiday actually commemorates: a revolution sparked, in large part, by a tax fight. While Independence Day celebrates the birth of a new n...
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Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation (ITRF) has named Ashleigh Hackel as its new Executive Vice President. Hackel brings a background in state government and a track record of advancing reforms rooted in free-market principles and aimed at producing a more effective, efficient, and approachable state government. She most recently served as General Counsel at the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals...
1 out of every 3 Iowa third graders cannot read at grade level. Learning to read is one of the most important milestones in a child’s education. But if a child hasn’t learned to read by the end of third grade, they’re likely to struggle throughout the rest of their school years. That’s because starting in fourth grade, the focus of education shifts. Instead of learning how to read, students are ...
On January 20, 2016, Rush Limbaugh quoted from an essay, “From Household to Nation” published in Chronicles magazine in 1996. “[S]ooner or later, as the globalist elites seek to drag the country into conflicts and global commitments, preside over the economic pastoralization of the United States, manage the delegitimization of our own culture, and the dispossession of our people, and disregard or...
Local government is not the heart of a community—it’s the tool that protects the space for community to thrive. Municipal finance expert Mark Moses argued that local governments face ongoing budget stress because their missions are too vague and expansive, leading to unchecked growth in programs and spending. Cities and counties should return to a limited, clearly defined role focused on core fu...