Iowans seek tax cuts, fulfillment of campaign promises.
1. Personal income tax relief. The 2014 Iowa Small Business Report also found that taxes were a top problem for 31 percent of owners. Gov. Terry Branstad signed a large tax cut package in 2013 that included $125 million in property tax credits for small businesses, as well as property tax relief and income tax cuts. For 2015, lawmakers have suggested more tax reform, including more tax cuts and a simpler income tax system.
“Personal income tax relief would be wonderful for our members,” says Kristin Failor, NFIB state director for Iowa. “Most are established as LLC, which are ‘pass through’ companies, meaning they don’t pay a corporate income tax—they pay whatever the owner’s personal income tax bracket is.”
2. Regulatory relief. Failor said many regulations Iowa small business owners are obligated to follow are burdensome and even overlapping. In a 2014 survey from Thumbtack and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Iowa earned a D for small business-friendly health and safety regulations, a sharp drop from previous years.
3. Improved access to grants for entrepreneurs. This was a common request by small business owners surveyed for the 2014 Iowa Small Business Report.
4. Branstad to follow through on his campaign pledge to create a center to better match Iowa’s workers with employers. The public-private partnership, the Center for Human Capital Enrichment, could help address the trouble that small business owners have in finding qualified employees.
“One of the challenges the lieutenant governor and I hear as we travel the state is we have good jobs, but we can’t find people with the right skills,” Branstad said in The Des Moines Register. “This partnership is designed to help match the private sector with our workforce development people and our economic development authority to make sure we’re doing a better job of preparing people and matching people’s skills with the jobs that are available.”
What are you hoping for this legislative session?
