Iowa District 14 Senator Sarah Trone-Garriott is concerned about a main area of possible legislation on the docket for this session. 

Trone-Garriott believes bills about tax reduction have been mishandled in the past, because the legislation comes up unexpectedly. She feels that there is not a lot of time to discuss the bill or to communicate with constituents before the bill is passed through the Iowa Senate. Trone-Garriott reveals that this year, the Republican-majority Senate is looking to cut income taxes and limit property taxes. She points out the potential dangers that can arise from following through with that. 

“When you cut income taxes at the state level, that puts pressure on our kinds of taxes to pay for the services. And we’ve seen a lot of that pressure being put on property taxes of the year, so when you’re shifting the property taxes, that is a last airway tax, and I know a lot of our communities are feeling that, and a lot of our folks are feeling that.”

Trone-Garriott believes that in order to solve the process of lowering property taxes, legislators need to figure out the source of where the money will be coming from. She explains that if property taxes are limited, then massive cuts will happen, resulting in cities’ inability to continue growing, or eventually shut down due to the lack of money it would take to remain sustainable. Supporters of the potential legislation argue that Iowans would pay less in property taxes overall, helping their bottom lines.