Property Taxes 3/1
- indivisiblecria
- Mar 1
- 3 min read
Overall summary of this week:
Currently there are three Republican bills being studied, this writer will try to provide some resources to help with decision making. At this point, no endorsement is provided.
A comparison of these bills can be found at Common Good Iowa
The Democrats also have a proposal and overview can be found at Iowa Capital Dispatch
For a more knowledgeable look at property tax, I have included comments, with his permission, from Sen. Art Staed’s weekly newsletter. Thank you to Art!
From Sen. Art Staed’s weekly newsletter:
Property Tax Reform
The reason why you don’t see a bullet point on the list above talking about property taxes is because bills that deal with taxes are considered “funnel proof,” meaning they don’t have to adhere to the same calendar deadlines as other policy bills.
As a reminder, there are three property tax reform proposals from the majority party in front of the Legislature at this time. HSB 596 from the House Republicans, SSB 3001 from the Senate Republicans, and SSB 3034/HSB 563 from the governor.
The House has already held subcommittees for and advanced the House Republicans’ and governor’s bills. On the Senate side, the governor’s bill went through a subcommittee this week. The Senate Republican bill will likely be scheduled for sometime next week.
Each of the existing proposals has different elements, so it is still to be determined what we will actually vote on in a final bill. If we can get a simpler, more predictable system that prioritizes taxpayers over corporations, ensures local governments can continue to provide the essential services that Iowans want, and encourages investment in the state, then you will see broad bipartisan support. We won’t support another giveaway to corporate interests or the wealthy that leaves working families and communities shortchanged.
The Budget
Like tax bills, budget bills are not subject to the funnel deadline. The state budget is usually the last, but arguably most important, work the Legislature does each year. It’s a complicated process under the best of circumstances – but we are not operating under the best of circumstances.
In 2025, Republican lawmakers passed a budget that spent $1.26 BILLION more than we took in, creating a massive deficit crater. In doing so, they are breaking two of their own budgeting rules: never spend more than the state takes in and never use one-time money to pay for ongoing expenses.
We know that the majority party is planning on passing another billion-dollar deficit this year, digging our hole even deeper and dropping the mess on a new governor’s desk in 2027. They argue that they “planned” for this, but the reality is they didn’t plan for this. The original five-year projections we saw in 2025 have been off by over $1.3 billion thus far and the governor decided not to include any projections in her budget book at the beginning of this session.
If the situation weren’t difficult enough, Senate Republicans are also pushing a bill that would allow them to pass the buck if they fail to pass a budget, kicking the can down the road and abdicating their responsibility.
All of this is to say that, while the funnel narrowed things down for us somewhat, we still have a lot of work ahead of us this session.
