Iowa GOP Lawmakers’ Property Tax Plan Has Formula to Reduce Property Tax Levies

(Radio Iowa) Republican lawmakers have settled on a plan that provides about 100 million dollars in property tax relief. Senator Dan Dawson, a Republican from Council Bluffs, says it sets up a new formula, so the property tax ASSESSMENTS Iowans received this spring will reduce the levies for city and county governments next year.

“We use it basically to readjust the levy to the benefit of the property taxpayer,” Dawson says. “…The current system as it stands right now does not work for the taxpayer.” The plan would increase the property tax credit for Iowans over the age of 65 to $6,500 and veterans would get a property tax exemption of $4,000. The bill cleared a Senate committee Monday with bipartisan backing. Senator Pam Jochum is a Democrat from Dubuque.

“After several years of tax cuts, we are finally addressing one of the two most regressive taxes that we have in Iowa,” Jochum says. The package may be debated in the full Senate today (Tuesday).