Tax hearing in Iowa House boils over

DES MOINES - A public hearing on a tax proposal in the Iowa House boiled over Tuesday night after House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque, ordered state troopers to escort spectators out of the chamber's galleries for booing and applauding speakers.

Hundreds had gathered for the hearing to weigh in on a proposal before lawmakers to end "federal deductibility" and lower state income tax rates.

Muscatine-based Iowans for Tax Relief had helped turn out opponents to the plan at the hearing.

The organization's president, Ed Failor Jr., was ordered out of the House chamber by Murphy.

"This is the most atrocious thing I've seen in the history of the 15 years I've been a lobbyist," Failor told reporters shortly before he was thrown out. "Pat Murphy (has) acted like a jack-booted Nazi in the way he behaved today."

Democrats that are pushing the plan portray it as a tax savings for middle-class Iowans. But Republicans and opponents have complained the plan would raise tax bills overall for hundreds of thousands of Iowans and hurt businesses.

GOP leaders expressed outrage at Murphy's actions.

"Just because they didn't like what they were hearing, they decide to throw the people out who were only telling the truth about what this legislation is," Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn told reporters. "As a Republican and the Republican Party, we stand with these taxpayers who are here tonight saying that now's not the time to raise taxes on Iowans."

Senate Minority Leader Paul McKinley, R-Chariton, said people were clapping spontaneously and were not disruptive.

"I am extremely disappointed that Iowans were not made to feel at home in the Iowa Capitol. This is unprecedented," McKinley said.

House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, said he thinks they could have found another way to deal with the situation.

"That is not the way I would have handled it, but that's his decision to make," Paulsen said.

The public hearing resumed after the House galleries were cleared and continued without further incident.

Murphy said the House has clear rules for decorum and against demonstrations by spectators and said he should have acted sooner.

"The idea behind the public hearing is to get public input and allow people the ability to speak for and against a bill," Murphy said. "This is not an athletic event where you cheer for the home team and you jeer and boo against people that you don't agree with."

Ken Sagar, president of the Iowa Federation of Labor AFL-CIO, spoke in favor of the plan. He said it would give a tax break to the middle class and would increase tax deductions for Iowa's most vulnerable citizens.

"We've watched while the Iowa tax system has become increasingly less fair for middle-class Iowans. Elected representatives of this state have tinkered with tax breaks for corporations and special interests while working Iowans have paid the bill," Sagar said.

Christian Fong, president of Corridor Recovery, which is helping guide flood recovery efforts in Linn County, spoke out against the proposal.

"It would raise taxes on Iowans already hurting in disaster areas and hurting in a recession," he said.

In Cedar Rapids, more than 20 percent of flooded businesses have closed their doors, he said, and the tax plan would cost more jobs.