Des Moines, Iowa (RI) — Two key statehouse decision makers say yesterday’s Senate vote on a property tax plan is productive, but negotiations continue over what should be in the final package.
Governor Kim Reynolds says that action provides some momentum.
GOP lawmakers set a goal of taking steps to reduce residential property taxes this year, and the Senate’s bill would provide a 50-percent homestead tax exemption.
House Speaker Pat Grassley says House members are still reviewing the senate’s bill to ensure it does not result in a tax shift to business or agricultural property.
One key sticking point that remains is the two-percent limit on annual property tax revenue growth that House Republicans and Governor Reynolds have proposed. The Senate’s plan has a “soft cap” that would fluctuate between two and five percent, based on the inflation rate.
The Senate’s bill also includes a gas tax increase, along with a mechanism that would trigger incremental gas tax hikes in the future.
Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, led development of the Senate’s bill.
House Speaker Grassley says House Republicans have not discussed whether they’d support adding a gas tax increase onto a property tax reduction bill. The last time Iowa lawmakers voted on a gas tax hike was in 2015, when the state tax on gas was raised to 30 cents a gallon.
KIWA Staff Photo
