News from the Hill…
This week in the Iowa House we had a lot of floor action passing several different bills and sending them over to the senate for consideration. We have reached that time in session where the committee work is slowing down and the debate time on the House floor is picking up. In order for a bill to become law it has to pass the Iowa House with a constitutional majority, 51 votes, and then pass the Iowa Senate with a constitutional majority, 26 votes, and signed by the Governor. This can be a fairly quick process, but most of the time it can take several weeks for a bill to make it through the process. People can be discouraged if they are in favor of a particular bill and want it to pass quickly. However, government works best when it moves with a slower and deliberate process. This gives the public the chance to way in more and the bill has better chance in being perfected. With that being said I have been here 11 years and have yet to see the perfect bill.
Ways and Means Bills…
There were three bills that came out of the Ways and Means committee this week in the Iowa House. One of the bills increased the beginning farmer tax credit, HF 252. HF 111 exempted all-terrain vehicles used in agricultural production from the sales and use tax. This further clarifies present code and the department of Revenue supported this clarification. The third bill was HF 235 which removes the requirement that Iowans have to indicate if they have health insurance for their children. Present law will not allow an Iowan with children to file their state income tax until they answer that question. The Department of Revenue supported this bill, they were forced to put this on the forms a few years ago.
Alternative Income Tax Bill…
One of the bills debated on Wednesday afternoon was HF 478 which gives Iowans a choice in filing their state income tax. If this bill would become law, Iowans could choose to file their income tax under the present method with the nine different tax brackets and all the same deductions and credits. Or instead, they could file under the alternative income tax method, with no credits, no deductions and a flat tax of 4.5%. Iowa taxpayers would still have a standard deduction of $6,235 or $12,470 if filing as a married couple. This bill gets to the very core difference that seems to be growing in our culture and our country today. We do need to ask ourselves a question and it’s a very fundamental question, but it’s a very simple question. Who does the money belong to: the hard-working Iowans or government? Too many today believe that the money belongs to government. It does not! It belongs to the hard working Iowans who worked hard to earned it. The bill is about letting Iowans, who work to take care of themselves and their families keep more of their hard earned money. This bill is about unleashing Iowans to not only take care of themselves, but to create jobs to spur the economy for all to benefit. There is a very fundamental difference in what some of us who serve in elected positions believe today. There are too many who believe that government should take care of them, that government needs to have more tax money to do more so called good for more people. The fallacy of that logic is built on the premise we do not have the ability to take care of ourselves. That government knows what is in our best interest. That could not be farther from the truth. In fact under that assumption our forefathers would never have ever fought for our Independence, they would have stayed under England’s rule. Instead our forefathers had the vision and the courage to fight for freedom. This country is founded on its individual freedoms, responsibilities and liberties. The further we get from those principles, the harder we make it for future generations to have the ability to live in the great Country that we have had the opportunity to grow up in. I have always fought for the taxpayers and I am proud to continue that fight. I want my grandchildren and their children to have the opportunities to dream big and then allowed to achieve those dreams. Should success be punished? House File 478 is about making Iowa income tax system simpler, flatter and fairer. I was the lead sponsor of this bill and was proud to support it.
“The problem is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much.” – Ronald Reagan
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
-Tom Sands