Key issues like tax reform remain unresolved as the Iowa Legislature heads into the final days of their 2003 session. Governor Tom Vilsack met privately with key Republican lawmakers yesterday and suggested an income tax change the House Speaker called intriguing. But Senate Republican Leader Stewart Iverson of Dows says income tax reform is dead, and that means the Senate won’t be voting on a proposed 890-million dollar state economic development fund. Iverson says “things may get resurrected.” Iverson says it looks dead to him now, but — in his words “who knows.”Iverson says there’s “no slam dunk on anything.” Vilsack, though, isn’t willing to concede defeat yet on anything, including creation of a new state economic growth fund.Vilsack says he’s willing to work as long as it takes. Vilsack says he’s trying to find the “elusive common ground” on income tax reform. House Speaker Christopher Rants, a republican from Sioux City, says while he’s been “popping Rolaids like Pez this week,” he’s confident the legislature “will accomplish what it set out to do.” A Senate committee yesterday approved an economic growth fund that’s one-tenth the size favored by the Governor and many key legislators. Senator Matt McCoy, a democrat from Des Moines, offered this observation. McCoy says Republicans appear “to be lost in the woods and need a Boy Scout and a compass to find their way out.” The House resumes debate today on tax and budget issues. The Senate won’t work today but will reconvene on Monday.
