The Senate Ways and Means committee discusses property tax proposals.
The $250 million commercial property tax credit plan devised by Democrats in the Iowa Senate has cleared a senate committee on a party-line vote.
Senator Joe Bolkcom. a Democrat from Iowa City, is chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
“There is no perfect bill,” Bolkcom said today during committee debate. “…We’re about doing what we can get done.”
Senator Randy Feenstra, a Republican from Hull, favors a different approach, one that permanently reduces commercial property tax rates rather than awards tax credits.
“This would be just another complication or another Band-Aid to a bigger problem underneath.” Feenstra said.
AUDIO of Senate Ways and Means Committee debate of proposal (mp3 runs 20 minutes)
Republicans in the House are reviewing Republican Governor Terry Branstad’s alternative which would reduce commercial property tax rates by 20 percent within four years.