(Okoboji)—Governor Terry Branstad was the keynote speaker Thursday as the Iowa Association of Business and Industry concluded its annual convention in Okoboji. Branstad had positive news on several fronts, including the fact the state is ending the fiscal year with a revenue surplus…(click here for comment.) “We’ve taken the money the previous administration took away from the cash reserve economic emergency account. We’ve restored those reserve accounts and we’re going to end the budget, we’ve spent only 97 percent of revenue. We’re going to end the year with a nice surplus.”
Branstad also talked about key accomplishments during the legislative session, especially when it comes to tax reform…(click here for comment.) “It’s going to provide a 10 percent reduction over the next two years in both commercial and industrial property taxes. It will provide some additional tax relief beyond that for smaller businesses. It is the largest property tax cut in Iowa history. It’s total over the next 10 years over what it would have been if the law had not changed, it will save Iowa property tax payers $4.4 billion in actual tax relief. And we’re doing this by ensuring local governments they won’t be harmed in the process…they’re revenues will be protected, they won’t see quite the growth they would have seen.”
Branstad also commented on accomplishments in education and healthcare reform, along with job creation…(click here for comment.) “I’m proud to say the unemployment taxes, as the unemployment rate has gone down from over six percent when I took office to 4.7, each year we’ve had a reduction in unemployment taxes for employers by going to a lower rate table. Workforce Development won’t make that announcement until September, but I’ll predict that this will be the third year in the row that we’ll see about a $100 million reduction in unemployment tax for Iowa employers.”
Branstad added plenty of challenges remain, including implementation of education reform and he says more needs to be done when it comes to income tax relief.
