The Iowa House passed a COVID-19 relief package last week.

District 47 Representative Phil Thompson says two main parts of the legislation include state income tax exemptions for businesses that took advantage of the federal Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and those who received $600 unemployment benefit payments, due to losing their job because of the pandemic.

“So it’s a total of $128 million of income tax relief. Those are the people, in my opinion, that were most heavily affected by COVID-19. The ones that were on unemployment and the people that received those grants and applied for those PPP loans.”

Thompson notes the bill has passed the House and is in the Senate for consideration. He is hopeful that both parts will pass the Senate so that those individuals do not have to claim PPP loans or unemployment payments on their state income tax forms for 2020.