The Iowa Legislature is working on the various different budgets and one aspect involves what Governor Kim Reynolds proposed during the State of the State Address.

State Republican Representative Phil Thompson says Governor Reynolds proposed a one-cent sales tax increase. He says Reynolds wants ⅜ of the one penny to fund Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy (IWILL) and the rest toward funding mental health. Thompson points out Governor Reynolds wants to offset the increase with income tax relief of up to 25-percent for the bottom income tax bracket and remove most of the mental health funding from property tax to the state budget. 

Thompson agrees with the Governor’s thoughts on bringing most of the funding into the state budget, rather than continue funding all of it through property taxes.

“We’re asking property taxpayers to take on more and more essential services. I don’t see it as out of the question for the state to take this on because it is a statewide issue.”

Before he votes on it, Thompson says he is going through the income tax versus property tax items to make sure there is not a net loss in the end.