Narcisse: Stop taxing overtime work

An independent candidate running for governor in Iowa Thursday called for eliminating state income tax on overtime hours worked by Iowa employees.

Jonathan Narcisse, 46, said state income tax should only apply for the first 40 hours that Iowans work each week. The tax break would not be available to salaries workers, he said.

The Des Moines candidate in the Nov. 2 gubernatorial race made the comments during an appearance at Iowa State Fair. He also proposed phasing out the state corporate income tax, linking property taxes to purchase prices rather than “random” assessed values, lower state income tax rates while keeping federal deductibility and driving down the state sales tax to 3 percent while exempting food, medicine, medical services and utilities from taxation.

However, he said before those proposed tax changes could be implemented state government would have to control spending by going to a zero-based budgeting system that would fund essentials like public safety, education and human services but cut spending in other areas by consolidating administration and slashing bureaucracy.

Narcisse said he would combine public safety, public defense, corrections, the Law Enforcement Academy and the juvenile justice division of the Iowa Department of Human Rights into one agency, reduce the student-to-staff ratio at regent universities that would eliminate 2,000 to 3,000 positions, and pare down the number of administrators in the state K-12 public school districts. He also would reform the human services system with “work-fare” provisions, encouraging volunteer work on public infrastructure projects, bringing back county farms, and implementing prison inmate work details.

“There are folks out there who don't think I have a chance. When I first started this, I actually didn't think I had a chance, but now I know I can win,” he told fairgoers while participating in the Des Moines Register's “soap box” activities.