Iowa has far exceeded expectations again, as the books are now officially closed on fiscal year 2022. Just over six months ago, Iowa budget experts on the Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) forecast state revenues to be 4.3% more than the previous fiscal year. However, the state ultimately brought in 8% ($717 million) more than last year, resulting in a budget surplus of $1.91 billion. This is...
ITR Live gets together to talk about Governor Reynolds joining other governors in a lawsuit challenging the Biden Administration's student loan forgiven plan. The conversation then turns to our state's growing budget surplus, and how that stands in stark contrast to the exploding federal debt. John has further thoughts on how our massive federal debt might impact our nation's future.
Governor Kim Reynolds announced that Iowa’s budget will end Fiscal Year 2022 with a $1.91 billion surplus, which follows Fiscal Year 2021’s $1.24 billion surplus. Iowa’s financial position is due to prudent budgeting and fiscally conservative policies. Governor Reynolds and the legislature are demonstrating that their fiscal policies work to create a healthy economy and a strong financial foundati...
In 2019, Iowa lawmakers passed a property tax accountability and transparency law. Any city or county government with a proposed budget increase of more than 2% above the previous year must now hold a public hearing first. Then, if the elected body still wishes to raise taxes after holding that hearing, it must achieve a supermajority vote of its members. While this law is a good start, huge pr...
Politicians’ talk about tax relief doesn’t always mean the taxpayer wins in the end. Not all tax relief is created equally, as a comparison of Iowa with its neighbor to the west will show. Iowa enacted historic tax reforms in March that significantly cut income taxes and reduced taxpayers’ liability. This change was possible because the state had been prudent with its dollars. Iowa did not incr...
In 2021, Governor Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Legislature worked to addresses high property taxes across the state with the passage of a measure which realigned the mental health funding system from local counties to the state budget. Historically, Iowa has been the only state in the nation to fund mental health programs through local property taxes. This resulted in a large […]
By Sarah Curry, DBA At the end of the 19th Century, Iowa levied property taxes on just about everything. Yes, real estate and homes like we do today, but also jewelry and other personal property, household goods, and intangibles such as mortgages, bonds, and stock holdings. Taxes were widely felt to be burdensome, unequal, and unfair, leading many Iowans to […]
Recent headlines in Central Iowa are focused on an upcoming round of real estate assessments for properties in Polk County. Long-time Polk County assessor Randy Ripperger estimates that residential assessments will increase by 22% next year. We doubt Polk County residents will be the only Iowans experiencing a large jump in their assessed values; anyone who has tried to purchase […]
Governor Kim Reynolds and the Iowa legislature delivered pro-growth tax reform by balancing restrained spending growth with income tax cuts. Years of prudent budgeting enabled the passage of historic tax reform in 2022, which will create a flat 3.9 percent income tax rate by 2026.
Iowa’s revenue report for August has been released and the news for the month was encouraging. Even under the weight of continued inflation and a national recession, the state’s net General Fund revenue was $57 million (6.5%) above the August 2021 net revenue level. When broken down by the three largest sources of revenue-personal income tax, sales/use tax, and corporate income tax-each categor...
A sales tax holiday is a limited time period during which a state frees purchases of specific items from state and local sales tax. At first glance this seems like a good policy from a tax-skeptical, pro-consumer perspective — giving people a break — especially when times are tough, as they are, now, with high inflation. However, sales tax holidays create complexities for tax code compliance, do n...
Iowa’s historic tax reforms this year focused on lowering the income tax rates paid by Iowans and the companies that employ them. The next step needs to be changing who is – and is not – paying those taxes. If Governor Kim Reynolds and the legislature want to truly position Iowa for the future, it’s time to take on the state’s addiction to special tax breaks.
This year the Republican Party selected Governor Kim Reynolds to deliver the official response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union Address. Governor Reynolds and President Biden offer two completely different views of both political philosophy and statesmanship. Selecting Governor Reynolds to speak on behalf of the Republican Party was not just a high honor, but it also reflected her leade...
Given the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC’s) recent easing of its COVID-19 guidelines, the national public health emergency appears near its end. The technical end of this emergency declaration will signify that the pandemic is officially over. And while that development will be cause for celebration, it will also trigger a major event for state governments and citizens enrolled in Medicaid.
By Sarah Curry, DBA The COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, yet the federal government took over a year to direct financial relief to local municipalities across the country through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The pandemic hit local communities across Iowa hard, but through hard work and fortitude, governments survived the pandemic with little lasting fiscal damage. Now […]
By Sarah Curry, DBA The COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, yet the federal government took over a year to direct financial relief to municipalities across the country through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The pandemic hit local communities across Iowa hard, but our governments survived the pandemic with little lasting fiscal damage. Now Iowa’s cities and counties face […]
By Sarah Curry, DBA The COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, yet the federal government took over a year to direct financial relief to municipalities across the country through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The pandemic hit local communities across Iowa hard, but our governments survived the pandemic with little lasting fiscal damage. Now Iowa’s cities and counties face […]
By Sarah Curry, DBA The COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, yet the federal government took over a year to direct financial relief to local municipalities across the country through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The pandemic hit local communities across Iowa hard, but through hard work and fortitude, governments survived the pandemic with little lasting fiscal damage. Now […]
By Sarah Curry, DBA The COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, yet the federal government took over a year to direct financial relief to local municipalities across the country through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The pandemic hit local communities across Iowa hard, but through hard work and fortitude, governments survived the pandemic with little lasting fiscal damage. Now […]
By Sarah Curry, DBA The COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, yet the federal government took over a year to direct financial relief to municipalities across the country through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The pandemic hit local communities across Iowa hard, but our governments survived the pandemic with little lasting fiscal damage. Now Iowa’s cities and counties face […]
By Sarah Curry, DBA The COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, yet the federal government took over a year to direct financial relief to municipalities through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The pandemic hit local communities across Iowa hard, but our governments survived the pandemic with little lasting fiscal damage. Now Iowa’s cities and counties face the task of […]
The COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, yet the federal government took over a year to direct financial relief to municipalities through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The pandemic hit local communities across Iowa hard, but our governments survived the pandemic with little lasting fiscal damage. Now cities and counties face the task of spending ARPA funds while complying […]
Local governments in Iowa started a new fiscal year on July 1. Those new fiscal years bring new budgets, and many times, new tax rates. What’s unique about this fiscal year (2023), however, is that Iowa counties are no longer tasked with paying the bill for mental health services. One key feature of 2021’s tax relief package was the phase out of the mental health levy from county property taxes...
After multiple rounds of negotiations, the United States Senate recently passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by a strictly partisan margin of 51-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote in favor of the bill. As the name implies, the purported aim of this effort, which the House of Representatives will soon consider, is to slow down the historic levels of inflation Amer...
Washington D.C. gave local governments across the country trillions of dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). To understand how that money was spent, ITR Foundation focused on a selection of cities and counties across Iowa, asking each: How much money did you get? How much have you already spent? How much is left? What did you spend ARPA […]