Polling is nothing new in the sphere of politics and policy. Groups and politicians conduct polls all the time, giving us a glimpse into voters’ perspectives on elections and pressing issues. Both Iowans for Tax Relief Foundation and the organization I run, the Beacon Center in Tennessee, have made quality polling a central part of our work. ITRF has been polling Iowans for five years, and the Beacon Center launched its quarterly poll in 2023.
Last month, I attended the State Policy Network’s annual meeting, where a panel of state leaders discussed their efforts to disentangle their states from federal government control. Among them, my state’s House Speaker Cameron Sexton discussed how the Tennessee legislature recently created a task force to study the strings attached to federal education funding. After the panel, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spoke to a group about her own Department of Government Efficiency task force launched earlier this year.
Be careful if anyone ever offers you something for free. And that includes “free money” doled out by the federal government. As the feds have become ever more intrusive into our daily lives, the amount that states receive in federal funding has skyrocketed. A century ago, with a much smaller federal government, the average state relied on federal funding to cover just 10 cents out of every dollar it spent. During the massive federal government expansion under the New Deal, that doubled to around 20%. States received another federal infusion with the creation of Medicaid in the mid-1960s, and the percentage has steadily risen since to an average of more than one-third today.
Tennessee and Iowa have quite a bit in common. Both are considered “red states,” with President Trump having won both states handily. Both have strong rural and agricultural ties. And both have generally competitive tax policies, albeit with a few outliers.
Both Tennessee and Iowa have recently pursued significant tax reforms to become even more taxpayer-friendly. Iowa has lowered its income tax rate from 8.98% to 3.8%, eliminated taxes on retirement income, and repealed the inheritance tax. Overall, it ranks as a top 20 state in the Tax Foundation’s “Tax Competitive Index.”
Let’s be honest, big government is big bureaucracy, and common sense tells us big bureaucracy is ineffective. That’s why ITR Foundation works to:
By applying the principles of limited government, free enterprise, and the rule of law to public policy, we can ensure all Iowans will have the opportunity to succeed.
ITR Foundation set the policy groundwork for many recent taxpayer victories in Iowa: