(Des Moines)– A bill that would increase Iowa’s sales tax by one percent has been introduced in the Iowa House. The first 3/8ths of that would fund outdoor recreation and water quality programs. State Representative John Wills of Spirit Lake, who also serves as Speaker Pro-Tem, says there are a lot of other components in the measure…
“We’re still looking at the draft of the bill that we just received this week and looking to determine what parts are actually do-able, what parts are not do-able.”
Wills says other portions of the increase would go toward property and income tax relief, along with funding mental health programs…
“The Governor’s plan would reduce the county mental health levy by about 70 percent, so we would pay out of the state coffers through the sales tax increase, 70 percent of mental health costs, and the counties and local governments would pick up the remaining 30 percent.”
Wills says he’s cautiously optimistic the measure, also referred to as the “Invest In Iowa Act”, will pass both the House and Senate in atleast some form…
“We’re excited about the prospect, but there’s a lot of moving pieces, a lot of things that we really have to understand before we can really throw our full weight behind it.”
The Iowa Legislature has been in session three weeks now.
