Feenstra pledges to ‘lower and freeze’ Iowa’s local property taxes

DES MOINES — Randy Feenstra wants to “lower and freeze” property taxes in Iowa, if elected governor next year, he said during a campaign event Friday.

Feenstra, a Republican candidate for governor and Western Iowa Congressman from Hull, spoke to a gathering of roughly two dozen at a breakfast restaurant in Des Moines’ East Village early Friday morning.

Property taxes have been a prominent topic among state lawmakers and now in the state’s 2026 gubernatorial campaign. Policymakers and candidates say they constantly hear from Iowans who say their property taxes are rising too fast.

Republicans — who are the majority party in both chambers of the Iowa Legislature — attempted to pass property tax legislation earlier this year but were unable to reach an agreement. They have pledged to try again in 2026, as has Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Iowa has the 11th-highest property tax burden in the nation, according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit organization that researches and advocates for simple and economic growth-driven tax policy; and the 10th-highest effective property tax rate, according to national lender Rocket Mortgage.

Property taxes are levied by local governments and school districts, and are the primary source of revenue for services like public safety and emergency response, and schools.

“We’ve got to figure out a solution to property taxes. We have to lower them and freeze them,” Feenstra said during Friday’s campaign event.

Iowa will elect a new governor next year after Reynolds — who has held the post since 2017 — announced earlier this year that she will not seek re-election to another four-year term.

Feenstra is one of five Republicans seeking the party’s nomination for the 2026 election. The others are state legislator Eddie Andrews of Johnston, former state agency director Adam Steen of Runnells, business owner Zach Lahn of Belle Plain, and pastor and former state legislator Brad Sherman of Williamsburg.

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Feenstra said after Monday’s event, while taking questions from reporters, that he would draw on his experience as a local government official — he previously served as Hull City Administrator and Sioux County Treasurer — to devise a policy that would lower Iowans’ property taxes.

“I get how property taxes work. I know there’s a way to lower property taxes and freeze them,” Feenstra told reporters.

“The No. 1 issue that we’re hearing from seniors and from small businesses all around the state is the input cost of property taxes,” Feenstra also said. “So we have to get this resolved. We’ve got to figure out a way to lower property taxes. That is my whole goal.”

Feenstra said he would push for property tax policy that would lower rates without threatening the local services funded by them.

“There’s a way to do that. We don’t want to cut certain services, whether it be police, law enforcement, EMS, all these things,” Feenstra said. “There’s a new way to do this, to be transparent on what property taxes look like, what’s being paid, and how you can freeze them. I plan to create that vision and make sure that gets done.”

In his remarks to the gathered crowd, Feenstra spoke about immigration, trade, energy policy, and federal Republicans’ budget bill that contained tax reductions and a reduction in future Medicaid spending.

Iowa’s 2026 primary election is June 2, and the general election is Nov. 3.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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