Research Archives for 2019

In 30 years, the share of public higher-education financed by tuition has doubled in Iowa. Meanwhile, total state support for higher education fell 22 percent.

Iowa stacks taxes against middle, low-income Iowans Study: New state tax law reinforces long-term trend of regressive taxes Iowa summary sheet (PDF) IOWA CITY, Iowa (Oct. 17, 2018) — Iowa taxes its middle- and low-income families more as a share Read more

Governor Kim Reynolds’ tax proposal trades massive cuts in public services for small savings for lower-income taxpayers, larger savings for high-income taxpayers and few meaningful strides toward fairness in a system that already treats the poor poorly and raises too little revenue to avoid mid-year cuts.

Neither fairness nor adequate funding of state services appear to be the focus of either bill, but let's give serious analysis a chance.

Iowa’s lucrative research subsidy cost Iowa taxpayers $66.1 million in 2017, with very large companies once again the biggest beneficiaries and taking at least $38 million in checks from the state without paying any state income tax.

IFP Statement — IPP's Peter Fisher: Eliminating federal deductibility and adding sales tax for online sales are good starts, but many reasons to question Governor Reynolds’ plan.

IFP News: Failed tax-cut experiment shows states how not to proceedNew report exposes the danger of supply-side tax-cutting by states   IOWA CITY, Iowa (Jan. 24, 2018) — A new report shows Iowa lawmakers should pay attention to the failed Read more

We start off the legislative session not knowing where the funding will come from to maintain the services we have, with legislative leadership locked into an agenda to drive down those services, and no real sense of how the Governor will protect long-held priorities​ of Iowans.

The tax bill puts the rhetoric of politicians and economic charlatans to the test — a test of trickle-down economics. It has never worked and will fail again.

When you look beyond the early years of this plan, you see that low- and middle-income Iowans are whacked by this plan in 2027.