Articles Tagged: Pat Grassley

Proposed income tax cuts are on the move, and work on the next state budget has started earlier than normal.

The bill, one of three GOP tax relief plans under consideration, would phase in a four-year gradual reduction in Iowa’s personal income tax rate from the current top rate of 8.53 percent for the highest wage earners to 4 percent for all taxpayers.

K-12 school funding will grow to $3.6 billion, about 44 percent of the state’s general fund budget, under a package approved by the Iowa House.

Requiring fuel retailers to sell ethanol-blended products will not only spur demand for Iowa corn-based ethanol and produce savings for motorists, but promote its use beyond the state’s borders, backers said during debate in the Iowa House.

Republican leaders in both the Senate and House have said they expect to move quickly on the legislative process for their respective plans, likely starting each next week.

Jack Whitver, the Republican Senate majority leader from Ankeny, said he believes the proposal aligns with the tax plan that Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proposed earlier this month.

To Alex Glenn, the director of human resources for Generation Next child development centers and preschools in Ventral Iowa, the best way to address what stakeholders have called a child care “crisis” is both simple and expensive. “I know this answer’s not going to appease a lot of people, but it’s money,” Glenn said.

Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds’ campaign reported raising nearly $4.8 million in donations in 2021. Her highest profile Democratic challenger, Deidre DeJear, reported raising nearly $287,000.

Although the $13 million in tax revenue Iowa collects from sports betting is a relatively small pot of money in the state’s $9 billion-plus annual revenue stream, it has caught the attention of lawmakers.

Educators in Iowa have been relaying their concerns with opening-day remarks made by Republican Iowa Senate President Jake Chapman, who accused teachers of having a “sinister agenda” regarding books in school libraries, Democratic legislative leaders said Thursday.

Judging by the opening-day remarks delivered Monday by leaders in the Iowa Legislature, Republicans and Democrats have decidedly different views about how to attract more workers and people to Iowa, whose population has been stagnant for a decade.

“I think there's going to be an effort to push for everything that's on the agenda,” University of Northern Iowa political scientist Chris Larimer said. “I think they're going to push on tax cuts, maybe more easing of gun restrictions and kind of waiting and seeing what they're going to do on abortion” in anticipation of a United States Supreme Court decision on a Mississippi abortion law.

GOP calls for returning “over-collection” to taxpayers; Democrats call for investments in workforce training, affordable housing and child care, and paid family leave.

Political considerations — such as whether current lawmakers would have to square off against each other in the next election — should not influence state lawmakers’ votes on proposed new political boundaries in Iowa, Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley said Friday.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, punched back at recent polling suggesting nearly two-thirds of Iowa voters think it’s time for a new face representing them in the U.S. Senate.