| New from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership |
| The Rebuild Iowa Advisory Commission correctly focuses on a quick and sustained approach to meet housing needs following Iowa’s 2008 storm disasters, but misses on one proposed tool by promoting the discredited enterprise zone program. Report (8 pg), News release. (9/4/08)
NEW!
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| Iowa’s flood-recovery planning must recognize challenges faced by low-income families. Low-income flood victims were already at the margins in a sluggish Iowa economy before the floods. Report (4 pg), News release, Fact sheet (8/19/08)
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| Tax policy is likely to fail as an efficient or effective response to Iowa's flooding disaster and moves to rebuild. Property tax responses, especially, miss the mark on key principles that should guide policy makers. Report (3 pg), News release (8/13/08)
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| June floods that devastated many parts of Iowa particularly affected low-income residents in the Cedar Rapids area, showing a need for targeted policy responses by the state. News release (8/12/08)
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| Efforts to rebuild from Iowa's devastating floods demand guidance from three principles: Public policy responses must be timely, targeted and transitional. Report (4 pg) (8/12/08)
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| While the Cedar Rapids area is more prosperous than the state as a whole, the same cannot be said of the areas hit hardest by flooding this summer. Report (4 pg) (8/12/08)
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| The number of uninsured Iowans grew by one-third in seven years, while Iowans' median income showed slight improvement in 2007 and poverty remained high. "These figures, particularly on health insurance, illustrate why Iowans may feel insecure about their economic situation," says IFP analyst Beth Pearson. News release. (8/26/08)
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| Almost 100,000 Iowa children would benefit from House-passed improvements in the federal Child Tax Credit if adopted in legislation to keep expiring tax breaks in place. Backgrounder. (8/4/08) News release. (7/3/08)
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| Farm buildings and farmland need to be assessed and taxed separately as a first step toward a more understandable and fair system of assessing Iowa farm property. The current system is outdated and doesn’t reflect the productivity of modern agricultural operations. Full report, four-page executive summary, news release. (7/17/08)
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| These are tough times for many Iowans. A proposal in Congress might seem to offer help with a property tax credit — but it would deny help to Iowans facing the most difficult financial challenges from floods, tornadoes and mortgage foreclosures. IFP Perspective one-pager.(6/24/08)
See the Des Moines Register editorial. (7/3/08)
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| Iowa retailers receive a 7-cent fee for every time a Food Stamp recipient makes a purchase — unlike other electronic transactions, and unlike any other state. It's one more example of generous Iowa business subsidies that have no apparent return. Backgrounder, news release. (6/9/08)
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| Iowa spent about $300 million in enterprise zone (EZ) subsidies from 2003-07 in a “monster” program that needs a major overhaul to meet its goal of helping distressed communities. Report, executive summary and news release. (4/21/08)
See the Des Moines Register and Radio Iowa stories. |
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Household-name companies have been getting big checks at the expense of Iowa households. Report, news release and graphs. (4/16/08)
Iowa's Human Needs Advocates see a problem: secret tax breaks for big corporations — $32.8 million worth in 2005 — but delays in improving the EITC for low-income working families. News release from HNA, and two-page IFP backgrounder. (4/8/08)
Learn more about secret checks and the Research Activities Credit, and about closing corporate tax loopholes.
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| Switching the School Infrastructure Local Option (SILO) sales tax to a statewide penny sales tax holds mixed implications for low-income Iowans and tax equity. Report and backgrounder. (4/4/08)
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• Different incomes, different impacts for Iowans. Backgrounder. (3/31/08)
• Falling short for families with children. Backgrounder. (3/28/08)
• Benefiting the wealthy. One example: Iowa's special treatment of capital gains income. Backgrounder. (3/6/08)
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| There has been much discussion in Iowa and all over the country about what would be the best way for Congress and the President to deal with an economic downturn. Some approaches have been shown to work better than others, and the current proposals offer a mix of ideas, some sound, some less so. Read the two-page backgrounder. (1/31/08) |
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| Access to child-care is an issue of "making work pay," just like the minimum wage and low-income tax credits — and updating Food Stamp benefits can reflect that. Read the backgrounder. |
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| Recent Research |
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| Undocumented immigrant families pay less in state taxes than families at similar incomes in Iowa, but they contribute over $40 million to state coffers and they receive fewer services. A new report finds that discussions focusing only on costs of undocumented immigrants can miss a big piece of the fiscal equation: the taxes immigrants pay, often without services coming to them. Read the full report or the four-page executive summary or the news release. (Oct. 25, 2007) |
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