After the pandemic hit to the Iowa economy a year ago, state tax receipts now are soaring.
The state’s fiscal year ends later this month, on June 30. Net tax revenue for the state of Iowa in the past 11 months is more than $7.3 billion. It’s about $1 billion more than same 11 month period in the previous fiscal year.
Consumer spending is up. Sales and use tax payments to the State of Iowa jumped 10% from July through the end of last month, corporate income tax payments to the state more than doubled and personal income tax payments were up nearly 16%.
Iowa’s unemployment rate has fallen by about two-thirds of what it was at the height of Covid-related shutdowns. In April of 2020, the state unemployment rate hit its pandemic peak of 11.1%. Iowa’s unemployment rate in April of this year was 3.8%.
Thousands of Iowans have dropped out of the labor force. The latest figures indicate 90,000 fewer Iowans are employed in non-farm jobs compared to February, 2020, before the pandemic hit.