• Policy Issues
  • Taxes
  • Economic Development
  • Transportation & Infrastructure
  • Workforce Development & Education
  • General Business

Taxes

Commercial & Industrial Property Tax Relief
In order to compete with other states, regions and countries, Iowa must improve its business tax climate. The number one thing that can help achieve this is property tax relief for commercial and industrial property taxpayers. Iowa’s tax system ranks in the top two states for the highest business property taxes. This is unacceptable and puts Iowa at a competitive disadvantage at a time when competition is not just with other Midwestern states, but the entire United States and beyond.

The Alliance supports addressing unfunded mandates, pensions and other measures to help offset rollback effects on local governments.

The Iowa Chamber Alliance supports property tax relief that follows a set of four core principles:  

1. The property tax relief must be substantive and permanent with the tax savings targeted to commercial and industrial classes of property.
    
2. Any move toward real reform must move the four locally assessed classes of property taxpayers closer to equitable treatment.
    
3. Consideration must be given to the impact a relief proposal may have on the budgets of local governments. While local
   governments should not have an expectation to “be made whole,” it is not in the best interest of economic growth for Iowa to simply push property tax relief onto the budgets of local governments.
    
4. Any proposal should be tethered to the values of simplicity, transparency and predictability.

Corporate Income Tax
The Iowa Chamber Alliance supports efforts to simplify and reduce corporate income taxes as a means to better market Iowa’s economic development efforts.   

Personal Income Tax
Iowa’s personal income tax is overly complex. Simplicity should be pursued with respect to Iowa’s personal income tax code so that Iowa can better market itself for economic development. Flattening and streamlining the personal income tax will help illustrate that Iowa is working to attract business and new jobs.