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Folly of the sales-tax holiday
Andrew Cannon The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) hits the nail on the head with a two-page policy brief about sales-tax holidays. Typically scheduled for back-to-school shopping and...
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Iowa’s holiday from taxes — and reality
Mike Owen Oh, boy! It’s sales-tax holiday weekend in Iowa. We’re talking about a “7 percent off” sale, folks — on only a limited list of items. When’s the last time that brought you into a store? At...
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New rule! Governor wants to make laws himself
We all know the drill: The Legislature passes bills and the Governor signs or vetoes them, whereupon they become either laws, or nothing. Not anymore, apparently. The move by the Branstad...
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Reading, ’Rithmetic & Politics
First, Governor Branstad challenged the bounds of basic math — miscounting jobs — and now it’s language arts. The Governor reportedly got a little testy last week at a Des Moines Register editorial...
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State aid up 13 percent — for business breaks
What do you expect would be the outcry if Iowa’s public schools asked for 13 percent growth in state aid? Yet few bat an eye when this happens with business tax breaks, as we can expect for FY2017.*...
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To fund water solutions, why not the obvious? Tax pollutants
Note: A version of this piece ran as a guest opinion in the Sunday, March 6, 2016, Cedar Rapids Gazette. ——— One answer to the issue of funding water-quality solutions is right in front of us: Tax the...
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Sales-tax break didn’t add jobs
Pushes for lower taxes on business routinely come with promises for more jobs. On that score, the more-costly-than-expected manufacturing sales-tax break has not produced for Iowans. Since the start of...
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Improve water quality funding equitably
Iowa has an opportunity to advance equity while improving water quality. The constitutional amendment voters overwhelmingly passed in 2010 gave us the option to fund water quality programs with the...
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Cutting revenues, holding back schools
It is worth noting that as the Iowa Senate passed an exceedingly meager 2.1 percent growth in per-pupil spending for Iowa’s K-12 public schools, Governor Reynolds’ tax bill offers a net reduction in...
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