House Speaker Pat Grassley says with a billion dollars sitting in the state’s Taxpayer Relief Fund, cutting personal income taxes “as quickly as possible” is the goal for House Republicans.
“We want to get that back in the economy,” Grassley said during a Radio Iowa interview late this morning.
The state’s economic emergency fund and cash reserve are full. Another account, called the Taxpayer Relief Fund, has more than a billion dollars because state tax revenue soared past official estimates. Grassley said that puts Iowa in an enviable position.
“This is good news when you look at other states. We have a billion dollars,” Grassley said. “Now we have to decide: ‘How’s it going to go back?’ We’re looking at, in lifetime, record inflation and other things that are going on, so we want to provide that relief to Iowans as quickly as possible, but I also think we need to do it in a way that we’re not necessarily picking winners and losers.”
Fellow Republicans in the Iowa Senate AND Governor Kim Reynolds are all exploring tax cutting ideas, but no one is ready to reveal the details.
“We’re not all in agreement on one bill, but I think we are in agreement we want to continue to lower the rates on Iowans, so I think that being the goal, it’ll work itself out,” Grassley said.
Business groups are pressing for a reduction in the state’s corporate income tax as well.
“While the number of a corporate tax rate may give some folks some sticker shock, don’t forget in Iowa we have some very, very what I would call aggressive credits and other things that we use to help incentivize business growth,” Grassley said.
A few years ago, Grassley led discussion of reducing the corporate tax rate — if the tax credits available to corporations reduced as well, but could not find enough support to make those changes.
The 2022 legislative session begins January 10th.