Property taxes

There is a bill being proposed by Governor Branstad that will change how property taxes are paid in the state of Iowa. In theory, it is ok, in that the goal is to make Iowa more competitive when it comes to attracting businesses.

However, make no mistake about it. It is going to shift the property tax burden from commercial enterprises to homeowners. There are no spending cuts with this. It is all about who is paying the bill.

This is what really honks me off about what goes in Des Moines. And it comes from both parties. There are no spending cuts, but the legislators often talk about cutting property taxes and blah blah blah. Well, the deal is, that is not their revenue stream. Their main revenue stream is income tax. But if they were to cut that, then they would have to make the hard choices about cutting spending and such.

But if they dink with the property tax system, then the city councils and school boards across Iowa have to make those tough choices. And in this particular case, if we want to maintain our current services in Roland, we more than likely are going to have to bump property tax rates up for homeowners. And then we are the bad guys.

I would like to see the governor and the state legislature try attracting businesses by cutting personal and corporate income taxes. Wealthy business owners would be more likely to come here, if their personal tax burden were lessened, and their corporations would be paying less taxes. But of course, that would involve making tough spending decisions in Des Moines.

The good news for Roland, if this passes, is that we are not highly dependent on commercial property taxes. We have our businesses, but it is a small percentage of where we get our property tax. We are not a major retail or industrial hub. Cities like Ames are going to get hammered--with all their businesses, and shopping areas.