Des Moines, Iowa — A 90-minute event at the statehouse Thursday morning gave lobbyists and a few members of the public a chance to weigh in on the billion-dollar tax cut package Republicans in the Iowa Senate unveiled Wednesday. Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, opened the subcommittee meeting by calling Iowa’s CURRENT tax system complicated and onerous.
Iowa Chamber Alliance president John Stineman was among the lobbyists paid to monitor legislation who said they hadn’t had time to read the 130-page bill.
Charlie Wishman of the Iowa Federation of Labor suggested a one billion dollar tax cut will worsen the state’s budget woes.
In addition to a 30-percent reduction in PERSONAL income taxes, the bill would cut the state’s CORPORATE tax rate from 12 to seven percent. Jennifer Kingland of the Iowa Taxpayers Association says her group’s still reviewing the bill, but she says it appears to create a “simpler, fairer, less complex tax structure.”
Brad Hudson is a lobbyist for the Iowa State Education Association, the state teacher’s union. Hudson says there’s no assurance, yet, of how FEDERAL tax cuts may impact state tax collections.
Others who testified objected to provisions in the bill that would get rid of tax CREDITS for firefighters and E-M-Ts as well as the solar industry. Derek Sadler owns Current Renewable Efficiencies, a business that installs solar panels. He asked lawmakers why a tax credit for research activities that’s claimed by some of the state’s largest businesses will continue, but the limited tax credit for installing solar panels will be eliminated.
Representatives of the state’s financial community weighed in on the bill, too, as it would change tax policy for credit unions.
