News from the Hill…
This week on Monday evening the Iowa House debated and passed the two bills that set the increase in the amount local school districts can spend in the foundation formula. Thursday morning the Iowa House debated and passed the bill that decides how Iowa will “couple” with the Federal Tax Code changes made in December. All three of these bills are highlighted in greater detail below.
Increase in School Funding…
The Senate passed a 4 percent increase in supplemental state aid last year and the House passed a 2 percent increase last year. Unfortunately both bills didn’t get any action in the opposite chamber last year. Their passage would set the per pupil amount for fiscal year 2017 for the school foundation formula which allows to schools to spend out of their general fund. Local and state governments are busy preparing their budgets presently for that fiscal year. This year with there appears to be a great focus on coming to a quicker reconciliation for that amount to be set. This week the House debated the Senate’s version and then amended the 4 percent growth to two percent growth. Then messaged it immediately back to the Senate. The Senate rejected our amendment, but there has been a conference committee set and most likely they will meet this next week. The Governors proposal was an increase of 2.45 percent. The three different proposals may not seem that far apart, the dollar difference is quite telling. The cost to the taxpayers of Iowa for each percentage is as follows; a two percent increase would be $81 million, a 2.45 percent increase would be $98 million and a 4 percent increase would be $155 million. The two Senate Files are SF 174 and SF 175.
Tax preparers and Taxpayers need Action…
The bill that updates Iowa tax code with the Federal Tax Code is one of the first bills that need to be acted on. The bill was the first to be assigned and debated in the Ways and Means Committee. The bill, House File 2092 was debated and passed on Thursday morning. This bill affects the tax year of 2015. So many tax preparers and taxpayers are expecting and needing quick action so they can complete the tax forms. The bill is extremely important to small businesses that have made capital purchases in 2015. One of the features of the bill is it increases the amount to can qualify for section 179 expensing from a $25,000 amount up to $500,000. This bill is consistent to what we have been doing for the last several years and taxpayers have been counting on this consistency with the Federal Tax Code. This bill passed the Iowa House with 82 voting aye, 14 nay and 4 absent or not voting. I voted for this bill.
Education SAVE Fund…
One of the issues that undoubtedly will get some discussion this session is the sunset of the one percent sales tax increase that was passed in 2008. The sunset for the sales tax at 6 percent is set for January 1, 2029. At that time the sales tax would be reduced to what it was in 1998, 5 percent. This code change replaced the old local option sales tax known as SILO, which was first established in 1998. The original SILO was changed in a significant way in 2003 before it was ended and replaced with present the law. The law change that occurred in 2008 was a deeply divided topic, which cut deep wounds and created deep divisions inside the House Republican Caucus. I can only assume this was true for the Senate and House Democrats as well. But I know first hand of the division in the House Republican Caucus. I was the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Caucus at that time and was in the middle of the discussion. As of Thursday there have been three bills that have been filed on this topic. I personally know of one more that is coming, the Governor’s proposal that he has talked about in the press. Two of the bills are in the Education Committee and one is the Ways and Means Committee. But in order for any of them to be debated in the House they will all have to travel through the Ways and Means Committee. Looks like I will be in the middle of the discussion this time also. But now I am the Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, so hang on to your hat.
“Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.” – Ronald Reagan
For more information on these and other bills: www.legis.iowa.gov
Until next time,
Tom Sands
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