Week 10

By Jon Dunwell

As we continue to move through this session, approaching the second Funnel Week, greater discussion in the House will move toward property taxes. The Senate has laid out its plans and I’m not sure it matches ours. Though I’m not part of Ways and Means, I do plan on raising my voice in the discussion. Therefore, I’ve begun to lay out my guiding principles.

• For Iowa to be competitive, foster growth, and prepare for her future, an overall lower tax environment is a must.

• We need to choose simplicity over complexity. For voters understanding and engagement and to remove hiding places and create accountability for elected leaders, we need to strive for greater simplicity. The complexity of our existing system creates too many “places to duck” accountability for elected leaders—levies, assessments, rollbacks, etc.

• It’s imperative we keep the end in mind. What we do today will have an impact upon what we can do tomorrow. What is the big plan for taxes in Iowa (property, income, sales, and fees)? We need to be careful about making decisions today that will make our plans for tomorrow difficult.

• We need to be reducing taxing authorities and not creating more.

• We need to focus on lowering taxes and not just shifting taxes.

Our discussions need to be placed amid the tensions of …

• Local control vs. state government impositions

• Assessment growth vs. budget growth vs. actual tax payments.

• Small-town declining communities vs. bigger-city growing communities.

• Greater voter understanding/transparency/engagement vs. imposing tax limits/caps

Bottom line, Iowans have repeatedly expressed the need for our property tax system to be addressed. I’m still promoting some version of Truth in Taxation. Every taxpayer prior to budget and levy approval should be mailed a statement outlining their previous year’s taxes, their proposed tax payment, and a listing of the public meetings to interact with their elected leaders. I’m looking forward to our discussion.