Statewide Iowa (RI) — House Republicans have released a property tax plan that includes the main element of the plan Governor Reynolds proposed a week ago, a two percent limit on property tax revenue growth.
House Speaker Pat Grassley says that will provide certainty for the taxpayers.
There would be limited exceptions for public school projects and new home construction, the same exceptions Reynolds included in her plan.
Unlike the proposals from the governor and Senate Republicans, the plan from House Republicans does not target major property tax relief to older Iowans. Instead, it would give every homeowner a $25,000 exemption on their property.
Representative Carter Nordman, a Republican from Dallas Center, is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and helped guide the bill’s development.
Governor Reynolds has called for freezing property taxes for Iowa homes below $350,000 in value that are owned by Iowans above the age of 64. The Senate’s plan calls for erasing property taxes for Iowans above the age of 60 who’ve paid off their mortgage and own their home.
Senate Republicans would raise the homestead credit to half of a home’s value and let local governments raise the local option sales tax by half a percent and raise the gas tax, providing more money to cities and counties for road projects.
The plan from House Republicans contains none of that. Grassley says it does not include the governor’s $10 million in grants for city and county efficiency projects either.
Grassley says there’s nothing included in any of the plans that he’d immediately declare unacceptable.
The House GOP bill requires changes in the mailer sent to every property taxpayer. Grassley says the changes will make it easier for taxpayers to understand where property tax dollars are being spent.
KIWA Staff Photo
