Will Iowa Adopt a Flat Income Tax Plan and Cut Taxes For Everyone?

In an article from The WCF Courier, The Iowa House has proposed and passed a flat tax plan for all Iowans that would gradually be only 4% over the next few years.

Would a flat tax for fair and even for all Iowans?

Just before the House approved the bill, Ways and Means Chairman Lee Hein - R Monticello said, "This is a historic tax bill that will change the climate in the state of Iowa for years to come,".The almost 40 Democrats that voted against it say it will only really benefit the highest wage earners in the state.

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One of three tax plan options the GOP offered, they say that it would be phased in over 4 years, cutting the current top tax rate at 8.53 all the way down to 4%. House file 2317 passed with a vote of 63-37 on Wednesday.

House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst - D Windsor Heights said, "I'm not a millionaire. I do not make a million dollars a year. If I did, I would sure like the tax cuts we've had the last few years." She went on to say that the tax cut should be for the middle-class "who deserve a tax cut most because they've been left behind the last few cuts."

Hein said that the millionaires will pay more. If you make a million or more in Iowa, you'll pay more than $40,000 in income tax. He went on to mention that a working-class couple who make about $70,000 each year would pay about $3600. What he didn't clarify was that a millionaire would pay 4% and it wouldn't affect them nearly as much as the $3600 coming from the working-class couple.

Because of the surplus revenue the state has, the GOP says that the state "can afford to return taxpayer's overpayments."

Gov. Reynolds' plan was nearly the same, but this plan does not include income tax cuts for corporations. Also, the Senate would lower the income tax to 3.8% by having a tax relief fund, paid by taxpayers, that would eventually eliminate the income tax, altogether.

Read more on this from The WCF Courier page and the e-edition or paper version.