DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa homeowners are getting reduced property taxes and abolishing state estate taxes.
Governor Kim Reynolds will make these changes official when she signs a massive tax plan this Wednesday.
It also lowers the state income tax rate, which most Iower pay, by about two percent over the next two years – from 8.53 to 6.5 percent.
Property taxes will be cut by $ 100 million nationwide after lawmakers agree to move mental health funding from property taxes to the state.
The highlights of the new law include:
- : Removed triggers from the 2018 Tax Reform Act that ensures income tax cuts for all Iowans go into effect on January 1, 2023
- Increase in childcare tax credit entitlement for families earning $ 45,000 to $ 90,000
- Exempt COVID-19 grant funds and Paycheck Protection Plan loans from state income tax
- State inheritance tax expires over five years
- Require payment parity for mental health services delivered through telemedicine and in person
- Employee residential tax credits increase to $ 40 million for fiscal 2022 and $ 35 million for subsequent years
- The mental health charge will expire over two years, with guard rails to control the quality and equality of services and future costs for the state.
The bill was postponed until the last few days of this year's legislature when Republicans finally approved the mental health change.
The Democrats, who are in the minority in both houses of the legislature, were not included in the negotiations on a tax policy change.
Back the Blue Bill must also be signed
Iowa is about to pass another new law that will increase penalties for riot and increase legal protection for law enforcement officers.
Governor Kim Reynolds will sign what is known as the Back the Blue bill on Thursday at a public event that is not yet scheduled.
The Republican majority in the state legislature passed the bill, saying it would offer officials the protection they need after some racial justice protests turned violent last year.
It was rejected by Democrats, who pointed to an impartial analysis showing that Iowans convicted of rioting are mostly black.
71 percent of the people jailed for rioting in 2020 were black, while black people make up 4.1 percent of Iowa's population, according to analysis by the non-partisan Iowa Legislative Services Agency.
In addition to making rioting a class D crime, penalties for blocking roads are increasing. Additionally, it becomes a crime not to stop for an unmarked police car.
The additional protection for civil servants protects them from certain claims under what is known as qualified immunity.
Police officers, prosecutors and judges will also participate in a program to keep their addresses confidential.
In addition, officials can no longer be dismissed simply for being placed on a list (known as the Brady List) that prosecutes wrongdoing.
The bill does not include priorities of Governor Reynolds' Back the Blue Act, which would prohibit the police from racial profiling and would require them to collect race data from traffic stops.