Iowa once had a property tax system that involved the use of "Tax Ferrets," whose job it was to investigate individual Iowans to ensure compliance.
On this episode of ITR Live, Chris got a new microphone and talks about the event where he got to meet all 11 of our listeners.
Chris Ingstad and Sarah Curry join the podcast to talk about the state's revenue outlook and continue the conversation about Iowa's overall economic outlook. When broken down by the three largest sources of revenue-personal income tax, sales/use tax, and corporate income, tax-each category demonstrated monthly growth over 2021 (directly from the LSA Revenue Memo):
- Personal income tax receipts totaled $476.2 million, an increase of $24.1 million (5.3%) compared to August 2021.
- Sales/use tax receipts totaled $436.3 million, an increase of $43.5 million (11.1%) compared to August 2021.
- Corporate income tax receipts received in August 2022 totaled $19.1 million, an increase of $7.2 million (60.5%) compared to August 2021.
Total net receipts YTD are 1.2% less than 2021, impacted by personal income tax (+6.0%), sales/use tax (-14.6%), and corporate income tax (+207.4%).
Read ITR Foundation's report on August revenue.
Sarah also provides a preview of her research on the history of Iowa's property tax system (Spoiler alert: It's always been frustrating). Did you know that Iowa once had a property tax system that involved the use of "Tax Ferrets," whose job it was to investigate individual Iowans to ensure compliance?
It was a terrible policy and, thankfully, didn't last long.
Today's property taxes are a tremendous burden on Iowa families. Over recent years, state government has done a very good job of separating "wants" from "needs" in the state budget and has limited the growth in state spending that created the opportunity for income tax cuts. There are good people serving on city councils, county boards of supervisors, and school boards across Iowa. They need to follow the state's example, do more with less, right-size their budgets, and honor the taxpayers who foot the bill.
Listen to this ITR Live podcast episode.
