10/01/2007
Property Tax Committee Meets
In what has become a grand tradition around the Iowa statehouse, another legislative property tax study committee convened its first meeting last week with promises to make Iowa's system more competitive with surrounding states.
The National Federation of Independent Business was asked by legislative leaders to represent Iowa's commercial property taxpayers during the study and Tom Zucker, of Zucker Enterprises, was selected to represent small business on the committee. Since this was the first meeting of the two-year interim study committee each member gave opening comments and Zucker took the opportunity to express the need for commercial property tax relief. "Commercial property taxes are the single largest problem facing small business owners," commented Zucker, an Iowa business owner for more than 26 years.
The committee heard testimony and presentations from various groups concerned about property taxes. Here are some of the highlights:
- Cedar Rapids City Manager Jim Prosser indicated his city's over-reliance on property taxes and the subsidy commercial property taxes provide for residential properties. Prosser informed the committee that 29 of 50 states allow cities to authorize impact fees but Iowa does not. This would be a separate fee charged on non-profit property owners for example.
- Tim Johnson from the Iowa Farm Bureau noted property taxes levied for last fiscal year were $3.6 billion and 10 years ago that same property levied was just $2.4 billion. Within the confines of the current limitations, Iowans paid $1.2 billion more in property taxes.
- Joanne Mangold, representative from the Iowa Realtors, indicated people transferring to Iowa are finding they cannot afford as much of a house as they had before due to higher property taxes.
What can small businesses expect from this committee?
It is really too early to tell. After the first committee meeting most legislators agree that commercial property taxes subsidize other property classifications. This is positive. The first step to solving a problem is admitting a problem exists. Committee members will continue to collect information as they have no plans to submit a report or make recommendations until January of 2009.
Ideas Emerge at Health-Care Commission
The legislative Commission on Affordable Health Care held its fourth meeting last week in Iowa City and again heard several presentations. While the commission has collected a great deal of information, they began to address some possible approaches to solve this crisis. One approached that was discussed was to take a mandated approach or an incentive-based approach in how businesses provide health care. Below are a couple of examples:
- Massachusetts requires every person to own health insurance and insurers pay a 4 percent premium to a state "connector" which is essentially a state-operated location to shop for health insurance.
- Montana, for example, has opted for an incentive-based approach for small businesses. The state, through a cigarette tax increase, has funded a program that offers a $100 per month, per employee refundable tax credit for every employee a small business (less than 9 employees) insures.
- California is currently working to pass an individual mandated system, much like Massachusetts, where individuals are required to purchase insurance and a state fund is created to assist the poor through taxes on doctors and hospitals. Employers who do not provide insurance must pay a 4 percent payroll tax.
- While there is general agreement on goals to focus on prevention and wellness initiatives, education on chronic disease, and reducing the number of uninsured, specifics on how a program would be funded are unknown.
The next Commission on Affordable Health Care meeting will be in Sioux City on Wednesday, Oct. 17. The location has not yet been announced.
What can small businesses expect from this commission?
Again, it is really too early to tell. However, the commission will be submitting recommendations to the Iowa General Assembly in January of 2008. Immediate assistance for small businesses offering health insurance would be a natural first step. The long-term approach should entice businesses to provide wellness initiatives and prevention services/education.
Below please find the legislators that make up the Commission on Affordable Health Care. Please feel free to e-mail your concerns/suggestions to these legislators.
Senators:
Jack Hatch (co-chair)
Jerry Behn
Joe Bolkcom
Larry McKibben
Amanda Ragan
Representatives:
Ro Foege (co-chair)
Clarence Hoffman
Dave Jacoby
Mark Smith
Linda Upmeyer
