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Questions for Iowa before adopting the pass-through loophole need answers: Costs of $100 million-plus, benefits to wealthy — some vs. others at the same income.

Seniors are least likely to live in poverty and most likely to have substantial wealth, but legislators keep looking for ways to cut their taxes.

While sales tax has remained important to state and local revenues, tax policy in Iowa has not kept up with changes in the economy, particularly with online and remote sales. The Governor’s tax plan would modernize that element — but other changes could ease Iowa’s overall regressive tax structure.

The plan includes some desirable reforms that need not have come at the expense of essential public services that inevitably will have to be cut in the face of revenue losses. It also omits reforms that could enhance Iowa tax fairness. 

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.

Overall the Senate plan would erode revenues, create structural budget deficits for years to come, and force cuts certain to imperil Iowa’s basic infrastructure and traditionally accepted responsibilities for its residents.

Despite chronic revenue shortfalls that have forced a series of mid-year budget cuts, senators are moving a tax-cut bill forward without even an analysis of its impact.

All of the same problems remain with the Tax Foundation’s unreliable comparison of state business tax “climates.”

“Too often, we see public officials relying on these rankings and the policy prescriptions they promote, when in fact the rankings have no predictive value for economic growth,” said Fisher.

The big winners would be those with the highest incomes.