Governor wants to review tax exemptions

Governor Tom Vilsack wants to study tax exemptions, to see if Iowa could clear some from the books. Governor Vilsack wants the various tax breaks reviewed to see if those that stimulate economic activity can be sorted out from those that are pointless, wasteful or let the state lose too much revenue. A long list of tax credits, exemptions and deductions cost the state about four-point-three billion dollars a year according to a recent report from the department of revenue and finance. Governor Vilsack says he’d like to see it all reviewed.Speaking at the Farm Bureau’s annual meeting in Des Moines, the governor ridiculed a sales-tax exemption for “massage therapy” saying it’s cost the state half a million dollars. He says the 500-thousand dollars could, for example, be used for schools or the mental health system to take the burden off of property tax payers.Vilsack says a review of the state’s tax exemptions is even more important with the state’s current budget shortfall.