As the session begins, there is not only an atmosphere of excitement, but also one of trepidation. It is no secret to most of you that Iowa faces many challenges, but as public servants I believe we should be here to meet those challenges head-on, rather than try to hide them or pass them along to another year and to another generation.
In Governor Culver’s address this week on the Condition of the State, I was pleased to hear his promise to not burden Iowa’s families with tax increases. Unfortunately, his record on taxes says otherwise.
Last fall, Governor Culver’s ten percent across the board cut would have crippled Iowa’s schools had it affected their spending authority, but since it only slashed the funding they receive from the state, it saddles the property taxpayer with a loss that must be backfilled. The Non-Partisan Legislative Services Agency estimates this property tax increase for the next fiscal year at $268.9 million.
We must also be vigilant against other tax increases which creep into our code through new fees and charges that prevent Iowans from keeping more of their hard earned money.
In the past three years, Iowans have had to deal with, and defeat, initiatives such as combined corporate reporting (proposal would cost Iowans an additional $25 million), the “bottle deposit bill” (proposal would cost Iowans an additional $21.5 million), and a repeal of federal deductibility (proposal would cost Iowans an additional $600 million). Fortunately, those proposals have failed so far. Unfortunately, others passed and Iowans are financially responsible for more government spending.
I promise to fight against any measure that perpetuates this pseudo-balancing act. As House Republican Leader Kraig Paulsen stated in his opening comments on the session, “House Republicans will not support any budget that spends more money than it takes in. Balancing the budget is not good enough if it’s on the backs of the property taxpayer.”
As always, please let me know if you have any ideas on how we can save money and protect the taxpayers of Iowa.
