Iowa Fiscal Partnership

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The highest-paid Iowans have to work 3 weeks per year to pay their state and local tax obligation (5.8% of income). The lowest-paid Iowans have to work twice as long to do the same (10.6% of income).

New from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership

EZ Money: Enterprise Zones Now 'Monster' Program
Report Cites Poor Targeting, Accountability
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 and news release. (4/21/08) See the Des Moines Register and Radio Iowa stories.

Slicing the Pie: Iowans Pay for Corporations' Secret Checks
Biggest Firms Benefit, Little Accountability for Taxpayers
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: Iowa offers secret tax breaks for big corporations — $32.8 million worth in 2005 — despite failing to improve the Earned Income Tax Credit 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.

Ability to Pay: Tax Fairness Issues for Iowa
Statewide School Infrastructure Sales Tax — Mixed Implications
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)
• State legislators' decisions hold different consequences for Iowans at different income levels. Fairness is a basic principle of taxation. Backgrounder. (3/31/08) • Iowa's tax fairness falls short in treatment of families with children. Backgrounder. (3/28/08) • Our outdated and leaky tax code is skewed to benefit the wealthy. One example: Iowa's special treatment of capital gains income. Backgrounder. (3/6/08)

Cutting and Cutting ... and Still Too Short
More of Same for Iowans in President's Budget Proposal
President Bush's proposed 2009 budget fails to keep pace with Iowans' priorities for public services including child care, education, energy assistance and the environment, a new report shows. Read the press release. (2/20/08)

Stimulus: Don't Cross the Three 'T's
Food Stamps, Jobless Benefits, State Relief Offer Answers
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)

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.

Recent Research

Iowa Taxes in Real Life
New Report Notes Undocumented Immigrants Pay Iowa Taxes
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)