Des Moines, Iowa — Republicans in the legislature are proposing a variety of ideas to simplify and reduce property taxes. Republican Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, the panel that drafts tax policy.
Dawson has introduced a bill that would double a property tax credit homeowners may claim for the house they occupy.
Increasing those property tax credits reduces revenue for local governments, so Dawson also is proposing a change in the one percent local option sales taxes being collected around the state. It would become a statewide tax and his bill then would send 1¼ percent of all state sales tax revenue to cities and counties.
Dawson has another bill that gradually consolidates property tax levies that fund local government operations. He says the goal is to get rid of most special levies. Then all city and county governments would operate under the general levy rate on property tax assessments set in 1975. However, Dawson says there would be some exceptions, plus a yearly growth rate would be allowed to account for inflation.
A senate subcommittee is scheduled for late Tuesday afternoon to review part of Dawson’s property tax relief plans. House Republicans have proposed different ways to reduce property taxes. Governor Kim Reynolds has made a very specific proposal, to reduce taxes for child care centers by taxing them as residential rather than commercial property. The governor says she’s anxious to sign a wider property tax reduction plan from the Republican led legislature.
Governor Reynolds has been saying getting rid of the state income tax is a priority, but she says reducing how much local governments collect in property taxes is also a goal.
Reynolds made her comments during a recent interview with Radio Iowa.
