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GOVERNOR
THREATENS TO VETO FUNDING FOR K-12 SCHOOLS
During
his Condition of the State address, Gov. Vilsack held up a
textbook and told Iowans that we needed textbooks for our
children. On Tuesday, Republicans answered and carved out $20 million
for textbooks.
Also
during his Condition of the State address, Vilsack said we needed
to raise taxes to fund a 2% allowable growth rate for schools in
FY 05. Again on Tuesday, Republicans funded a 2% allowable growth
rate, an amount totaling more than $1.88 billion in FY 05 – without
raising taxes. In
addition, Republicans restored the $45 million in cuts to
education that the governor enacted in October.
Despite
Republicans’ good-faith efforts to fund the governor’s
requests, he has threatened to veto the entire education-funding
bill, stripping money from Iowa’s schools.
There
was only one difference between Vilsack’s proposal and the
Republicans’ bill: RAISING YOUR TAXES
What
Gov. Vilsack won't tell you is this: his numbers don't add up.
What he is proposing in tax increases is not EVEN enough to
cover what he is proposing in spending increases.
House
Republicans proved last week that our top priority – education
– can be fully funded, even at the governor’s proposed level,
without raising taxes. He
is balancing a tax increase on the backs of Iowa’s schools in
the hopes of additional revenues for other programs.
Regardless
of the governor’s threats, Republicans will backfill his 2.5%
board cut to education last year, and schools will receive
2% allowable growth in FY 05.
This totals over $1.88 billion for Iowa’s K-12 schools,
which when coupled with local funding amounts to more than $6,000
per student and $90,000 per classroom.
The
difference is that Republicans do not want to raise taxes
and Governor Vilsack will evidently stop at nothing, even
if it means vetoing money for textbooks, to raise your taxes.
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BRIEFING ON THE STATUS OF THE STREAMLINED SALES
TAX PROJECT
On
Monday, February 16th the House and Senate Ways and Means
committees met in a joint session to receive a briefing on the
status of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project (SSTP) in Iowa and the
Nation. Don Cooper from the Iowa Department of Revenue (IDR) and
Kristi Magill (RSM McGladrey), private sector co-chair of the Iowa
Streamlined Sales Tax Advisory Council presented to the committees.
Mr. Cooper talked about the goals of the
SSTP, which included: uniformity
among the states, simplification of processes, voluntary
registration of remote sellers, and the collection of the tax that
is due to the State.
Iowa
passed conforming legislation in the 2003 Extraordinary Session and
this legislation will become effective, July 1, 2004. Currently, a review of all state’s legislation is
taking place within the business community.
Ms.
Magill discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the project.
First, the fact that some degree of simplification is
occurring is good tax policy. And, states will see additional revenue due to the project,
although, the actual amount of new revenue the states will see is
heavily debated.
Some
of the weaknesses include the fact that the promised technology
solutions remain elusive – there are no cost estimates available
yet, there haven’t been any comprehensive and successful
feasibility studies, the cost to businesses has not been established
yet, and the integration of software has not been established.
The Iowa Streamlined Sales Tax Advisory Council will continue to
meet to discuss the implementation of the SSTP in Iowa.
Ways
& Means Update
Bills
introduced in committee this week:
HF2302-An
Act relating to gambling, concerning the operation, licensure,
regulation, fee assessment, and taxation of racetracks and excursion
gambling boats, including pari-mutuel wagering.
Bills passed out of committee
this week:
HF2302-An
Act relating to gambling, concerning the operation, licensure,
regulation, fee assessment, and taxation of racetracks and excursion
gambling boats, including pari-mutuel wagering.
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Week
in Review Archives