The three-member state board that estimates state tax revenue is expressing reservations about the state’s economy. State Revenue Estimating Conference member Dave Underwood of Mason City says there are clear signs in the amount of income taxes Iowans are paying the state. Underwood says the taxes increase as people get new jobs and pay taxes. He says that growth isn’t evident.Underwood says things are tight with layoffs in and out of Iowa.Legislative Fiscal Bureau director Dennis Prouty, another member of the State Revenue Estimating Conference, says by reviewing tax estimates, it doesn’t appear the state’s economy is rebounding yet. He says it’s still too early in the fiscal year to say if there is a rebound. He says the signs aren’t there yet to point to a rebound.Iowa Department of Management director Cynthia Eisenhauer says the state’s economy is still growing, just not as robustly as it did during the boom years of the ’90s, something she says is a reflection of the national slowdown.Eisenhauer, Prouty and Underwood met yesterday at the statehouse to set their estimate of state tax collections for the coming fiscal year, and review taxes being collected for the present budgeting year. The state’s fiscal year runs from July 1st to June 30th.
