Iowa Senate Passes Tax Cut

A 40-million dollar plan to reduce property taxes has cleared the Iowa Senate. Under the bill, the state picks up more of the costs of some school programs, like “talented and gifted” and special ed — programs which have been bankrolled primarily by property tax dollars. Senator JoAnn Johnson, a republican from Adel, says it’s a shift to using state income and sales taxes to pay for those school programs. The bill also helps out school districts which stretch for miles — creating huge bus bills to transport far-flung students to school. The bill passed on a 49 to one vote. Senator Jack Rife, a republican from Durant, was the lone “no.” The so-called “uniform levy” is the base amount of property taxes a school district may collect for each one-thousand dollars of property value.