Iowa Libertarian candidates for governor favor eliminating state taxes and deregulating abortion, marijuana, gun ownership

JOHNSTON - One would seek to eliminate the state's sales tax, the other the state's income tax.

And with their emphasis on individual liberties, both believe there should be fewer restrictions on abortions, gun ownership and marijuana use.

Jake Porter of Council Bluffs and Marco Battaglia of Des Moines are running for Iowa governor as Libertarians and were guests on the Friday taping of this weekend's 'Iowa Press” on Iowa Public Television.

They will appear on the June 5 primary ballot after the Libertarian Party received enough support in Iowa during the 2016 election to earn official party status.

Those choosing Libertarian primary ballots will choose between Porter and Battaglia, with the winner on the November general election ballot alongside Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Democrat that wins that party's nomination.

Libertarians stress individual liberties and smaller government, and Porter and Battaglia expounded on those ideals Friday.

'Libertarians believe that you should be free to live your life as you see fit, so long as you're not harming anyone else,” Porter said. 'I like to say we take the good from the Democrats and Republicans and we toss out the bad.”

Porter and Battaglia agreed on a wide variety of policies, but their approaches to state tax reform vary.

Battaglia said state tax cuts approved this year by Reynolds and the Republican-led Iowa Legislature did not go far enough. Battaglia said he supports phasing out the state income tax.

'We need to address the tax code immediately,” Battaglia said. 'Our tax code is not that far off from the absurd tax code of the federal government.”

Porter criticized the current fiscal health of Iowa's budget - for a second straight year revenues fell short of projections and state lawmakers had to enact midyear budget cuts and spending from the state's reserve accounts - and said his preference would be to phase out the state sales tax.

Porter said he also would address state spending in order to keep the budget in line with any tax cut.

'We look at who the sales tax primarily impacts and that is the poorest Iowans. It creates a lot of problems,” Porter said. 'It creates problems with people lifting themselves out of poverty because everything that you buy, or pretty much everything that you buy, with the exception of food, is going to be taxed with the sales tax.”

In positions that put them at odds with Republicans on abortion and Democrats on gun rights, the Libertarian candidates said the fewer government regulations, the better.

Porter said there are some pro-life Libertarians, but he shared with Battaglia the belief that more regulations will not produce fewer abortions.

'I think abortion is an important moral issue. I think it's something that we should discuss,” Porter said. 'But the idea that the government is going to step in here and prohibit it and it's just magically going to stop, it's not going to work. It hasn't worked with marijuana, it didn't work with alcohol, it's not going to work with this.”

On gun regulations, Battaglia said scaling back drug arrests would do more to stop gun violence than regulating gun ownership.

'Moving toward more freedom, concealed carry, even constitutional carry (the right to carry a firearm without a permit),” Battaglia said. 'I really think if our goal is safety and reducing gun violence, there are things we can do that move away from some of the failed attempts at gun control.”

While Porter acknowledged such action would require legislative approval, which would require changing the minds of dozens of state legislators, both candidates said they would legalize both medicinal and recreational use of marijuana.

'Iowa Press” airs at noon Sunday on Iowa Public Television and at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on IPTV. 3 (World).

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