Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — Lawmakers are entering the 16th week of this year’s legislative session with an overall state spending target, but House and Senate Republicans have not yet agreed on a property tax reform plan.
Senate Republican Leader Mike Klimesh says key lawmakers spent the weekend beginning to iron out the details of a $9.6 billion state budget, about a 1.4 percent increase.
Major differences remain between the property tax plans favored by House and Senate Republicans. Senate Republicans propose a limit on property tax growth that would range between two and five percent, based on the inflation rate. House Republicans propose a hard cap of two percent.
House Speaker Pat Grassley says there may be a way to produce a hybrid of the two plans, but House Republicans believe firm constraints are needed to provide certainty for property owners.
Democrats, who hold a minority of seats in the legislature, are not involved in the negotiations.
House Democratic Leader Brian Meyer says it appears to him that Republicans have no idea what they’re going to do on property taxes.
Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner says Democrats joined Republicans to support the property tax plan that cleared the Senate earlier this month because it offered some flexibility so local governments could keep providing essential services.
Three Democrats joined most House Republicans last week to advance the House GOP’s property tax alternative.
Republican Representative Carter Nordman of Dallas Center, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, says this is how the legislative process works.
Republican Senator Dan Dawson, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, says property tax reform is not a buffet of items to pick and choose from, and he says senators did their homework and produced a plan that overhauls the property tax system.
KIWA Staff Photo
