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Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Gov. Kim Reynolds says property taxes, not income taxes, will be focus in 2026
Gov. Kim Reynolds appeared May 23, 2025 on "Iowa Press." (Screenshot from Iowa PBS video) Gov. Kim Reynolds said Friday that eliminating Iowa's income tax may not be on the table before she leaves office — but that she plans to focus on reducing property taxes in the 2026 legislative session. In her public statement following the adjournment of the 2025 legislative session, Reynolds did not bring up income taxes as a goal for 2026. Instead, she highlighted her plans to work on 'reducing Iowans' property tax burden' next year. During an interview on 'Iowa Press,' moderator Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa asked Reynolds if she had abandoned the goal to end Iowa's income tax or planned to move on cutting both income and property taxes in 2026. Reynolds said, 'that would be aggressive.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'I want to create a foundation that when I do leave, the next Republican governor that sits in that chair will be able to continue to reduce the individual income tax rate,' Reynolds said. 'But I do need to focus on property taxes. That is what we hear about all the time.' Reynolds announced in April she will not seek reelection in the 2026 general election. During her tenure as governor, Reynolds has put a major focus on cutting taxes, particularly focusing on Iowa's income taxes. Iowa's individual income tax rate fell to a flat 3.8% rate in January following a law the governor signed in 2024 that sped up 2022 cuts to individual and corporate income taxes. While Reynolds has celebrated these reductions, she has also said in previous years that she wanted to go further and completely eliminate the state's income tax. At a Cato Institute forum in 2023, Reynolds said her goal was to 'get to zero individual income tax rate by the end of this second term.' The governor said in 2025, legislators had 'asked to take the lead' on property taxes, but that she planned to be more involved in this work and finding a solution to reduce property tax costs through discussions with local governments and other stakeholders over the summer. Republican legislative leaders, Sen. Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs and Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, the Ways and Means Committee chairs in the Senate and House, had introduced a bill in 2025 to eliminate Iowa's 'rollback' system for calculating property taxes and instead move to a 'revenue-restricted' system that would limit most property tax levy rates to 2% growth each year. The proposal, which went through multiple iterations but failed to come to a floor vote, also included other measures intended to lower property taxes like a shift of $426 million in K-12 funding from property taxes to the state. Reynolds said she did not believe that shifting funding to the state necessarily would be the correct solution, as 'it's still taxpayer dollars' that would come from state taxes instead of local property taxes to back this K-12 funding. She said her focus on putting together a package to cut property taxes would involve looking at 'how we deliver services to our citizens.' She said it's not feasible for Iowa communities to have 'level of government that we have and expect the property taxes to go lower.' She said her discussions will involve ways Iowa can streamline government to cut costs, but will also likely involve changes to how Iowa local governments have operated in the past 40 years. 'It's disruptive, but that means people are going to probably be a little uncomfortable, and we'll have the conversation,' Reynolds said. 'And I'm not going to wait until January to have it. We're going to have it all summer as we're working on it.' Most of the governor's priorities, which she laid out during her Condition of the State address in January, were met before the 2025 session ended earlier this month. Measures like restricting cellphone use in classrooms, increasing medical residency slots and making changes to Iowa's rural health care system and backfilling some natural disaster aid for Iowa areas impacted by 2024 extreme weather all passed this session. When asked by moderators about the proposed elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the federal agency that played a large role in Iowa's recovery efforts after the 2024 natural disasters, Reynolds said there still needs to 'be a partnership' with the federal government but that she sees areas for improvement in FEMA's response system. 'I'm telling you, it takes way too long, it's way too bureaucratic,' Reynolds said. 'You know, we've got people on the ground that can act quickly. We were able to stand up some really unique programs because they gave us the flexibility to do that. That's what states do, that's what we could do. So I think it really is something we need to take a look at.' Some of Reynolds' proposals, like measures on child care infrastructure and energy programs, did not make it to her desk. The child care bill included a provision to shift funding from the existing Early Childhood Iowa (ECI) and federal Child Care and Development Fund Wrap Around Child Care funds to a new $16 million grant pilot program for preschool providers and child care centers. The focus would be on providing full-day care for children. Though the legislation did not pass this session, Reynolds moved forward Tuesday to establish a Continuum of Care grant with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services releasing an initial Request for Proposal for the grant. The governor also extended the child care assistance pilot program, allowing child care workers to receive child care assistance for their own children. One bill that Reynolds has not weighed in on is House File 639, the legislation proposing multiple changes related to the use of eminent domain in carbon sequestration pipeline projects. The bill passed the Senate following heated debate during the last week of session. Republican leaders in the House, including House Speaker Pat Grassley, have said they believe Reynolds will sign the bill into law despite opposition from the ethanol industry and some high-profile Republicans. June 14 is the deadline for Reynolds to sign bills from the 2025 session into law; if she does not sign or veto a bill by this deadline, it is considered a 'pocket veto' and not enacted. The governor said on 'Iowa Press' she is meeting with stakeholders to discuss the legislation, but is still in the process of researching and considering the impacts of the bill with her policy team and with advocates both for and against the measure. 'Almost every meeting has led to some additional research on my team, I have legal counsel looking at it,' Reynolds said. 'So it's been a really good process, and we're going to continue that through at least the next week. So I want to make sure that I have given individual stakeholders the opportunity to weigh in, so that I can, again, make make the best, informed decision that I can based on information I've heard.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Grassley, 91, waves and smiles to booing, cursing protesters
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley was captured on video waving and smiling to booing protesters who were chanting "stand up to Trump" and repeatedly yelling "f--- you!" outside of his town hall event. Footage posted on social media showed the 91-year-old Republican grinning and waving his arms as he waded into a hostile crowd that gathered outside the Franklin County Courthouse in Hampton on Friday. "Stand up to Trump! Stand up to Trump!" the crowd could be heard chanting as Grassley exited the building following the event, flanked by two men who appeared to be security members. An irate woman could then be heard yelling "traitor!" and "f--- you!" over and over toward Grassley, who at one point gives a double thumbs up in response to the reaction. 'Chaos And Confusion': How Democrats Infiltrated 'Thunderous' Gop Town Halls Grassley eventually stepped into a waiting vehicle as the crowd continued to boo and jeer him. Read On The Fox News App More than 100 people attended the town hall event, during which Grassley was asked questions on topics including tariffs, annexing Canada and the future of Social Security and other federal programs, according to Radio Iowa. Gop Rep Sounds Alarm Over Democrats 'Inciting Far-left Activists' After Private Luncheon Protest Turns Physical "Well, I think you can draw the conclusions, I win by landslides, but I don't win by 100% of the vote, so having people disagree with you is what democracy is all about," he was quoted by the outlet as saying. The incident happened following other recent protests at Republican town hall events, including one in North Carolina two weeks ago during which a man who identified himself as a veteran stood up and started shouting at Rep. Chuck Edwards, yelling "you don't give a f--- about me!" before being escorted away by police. "I just watched our GREAT Republican Congressman from North Carolina, CHUCK EDWARDS, hold a Town Hall in Asheville. He was a total gentleman, but the room was 'littered' with Radical Left Lunatics, mostly Democrats, and all they did was scream, shout and use filthy language," President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social yesterday. "They were largely paid agitators, with fake signs and slogans, and were only there to make TROUBLE! Chuck put up with it, and was WONDERFUL!"Original article source: Grassley, 91, waves and smiles to booing, cursing protesters
Fox News
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Grassley, 91, waves and smiles to booing, cursing protesters
Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley was captured on video waving and smiling to booing protesters who were chanting "stand up to Trump" and repeatedly yelling "f--- you!" outside of his town hall event. Footage posted on social media showed the 91-year-old Republican grinning and waving his arms as he waded into a hostile crowd that gathered outside the Franklin County Courthouse in Hampton on Friday. "Stand up to Trump! Stand up to Trump!" the crowd could be heard chanting as Grassley exited the building following the event, flanked by two men who appeared to be security members. An irate woman could then be heard yelling "traitor!" and "f--- you!" over and over toward Grassley, who at one point gives a double thumbs up in response to the reaction. Grassley eventually stepped into a waiting vehicle as the crowd continued to boo and jeer him. More than 100 people attended the town hall event, during which Grassley was asked questions on topics including tariffs, annexing Canada and the future of Social Security and other federal programs, according to Radio Iowa. "Well, I think you can draw the conclusions, I win by landslides, but I don't win by 100% of the vote, so having people disagree with you is what democracy is all about," he was quoted by the outlet as saying. The incident happened following other recent protests at Republican town hall events, including one in North Carolina two weeks ago during which a man who identified himself as a veteran stood up and started shouting at Rep. Chuck Edwards, yelling "you don't give a f--- about me!" before being escorted away by police. "I just watched our GREAT Republican Congressman from North Carolina, CHUCK EDWARDS, hold a Town Hall in Asheville. He was a total gentleman, but the room was 'littered' with Radical Left Lunatics, mostly Democrats, and all they did was scream, shout and use filthy language," President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social yesterday. "They were largely paid agitators, with fake signs and slogans, and were only there to make TROUBLE! Chuck put up with it, and was WONDERFUL!"
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Winter storm causes widespread power outages in Texas and may bring blizzard conditions to central U.S., elevate wildfire risk in southern states
The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for eastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi through 7pm central time on Tuesday, forcing Mardi Gras parades in Jefferson Parish, La. to be cancelled and celebrations in New Orleans to be altered. Meanwhile, widespread power outages in North Texas left at least 400,000 customers without power Tuesday morning. High winds are expected to continue in various parts of the Great Plains, including Kansas. The NWS says a major winter storm in the central United States will bring blizzard conditions and severe weather starting Tuesday through the middle of this week. 'A swath of 4 to 8 inches along with very strong winds will setup from the Central High Plains to the Upper Midwest resulting in a vast area with blizzard conditions. Local max snow totals may approach 1 foot,' the NWS said in its latest update. Blizzard conditions are expected in parts of Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin as the system moves through the central Plains on Tuesday, arrives in the Midwest by Tuesday night and makes its way across the Great Lakes region on Wednesday. Wind gusts as high as 70 mph in the central Plains are forecast for Tuesday, making travel difficult in many areas, the NWS said. The upper Midwest is expected to be hit with 50 mph wind gusts beginning Tuesday night. 'Travel should be restricted to emergencies only. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you. If you get stranded, stay with your vehicle,' meteorologists said in an alert. Parts of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, South Dakota and Wisconsin are all forecast to see some snowfall as the storm pushes through. While the heaviest totals are expected in the Rocky Mountains, states like Wisconsin could see as much as 10 inches. 'There is some uncertainty about how long that blowing snow will linger after the falling snow has ended,' NWS meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff told Radio Iowa. 'So anyone who's out and about on Wednesday will definitely want to take it easy and check road conditions before they head out.' The impacts of the massive storm system are also already extending to other parts of the country, as seen with the tornado watch issued for eastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi Tuesday as well as the widespread power outages in North Texas. 'Damaging winds will blow down trees and power lines. Widespread power outages are expected. Travel will be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles," said the NWS office in Dodge City, Kan., in a Tuesday update. Despite the snow and rain that the system will bring across the central U.S., states like Texas will see an increased risk of wildfires from the storm thanks to a combination of high winds, low humidity and warm temperatures. Along with high wind warnings, the NWS posted red flag warnings in Texas and portions of Tennessee. Red flag warnings indicate that conditions are favorable for wildfires.
