With a $1.24 Billion surplus for 2021 I think they are collecting more than enough to maintain all those concerns. now if they would change the laws on how they distribute and allocate those funds thats a different chapter but there is no shortage of funds. As a tax payer i question why are we paying in so much each year if $1.24 Billion is not being used or allocated annually.
This bill will also keep people for skipping town to florida and other tax friendly states near retirement to keep from paying out the ass on taxes. If they stay in iowa they will spend money in iowa. My 2 cents.
I work for the state, in my 12th year now. State salaries are flat. In contrast, private companies have nimbly raised compensation for employees in order to staff their organizations in the face of the national labor shortage and soaring inflation. IA public safety workers and teachers are bailing from their careers in droves. Over 50% of the
remaining teachers nationwide are planning to exit their careers. Critical IA public sector job openings sit vacant because no one wants the jobs. Did the IA legislature or the governor’s office increase the budget of state agencies to address the crisis? They did, but at a TINY fraction of what is actually required just to stay afloat. Our state is willfully abandoning basic obligations in education and public safety.
My wife and I are licensed foster parents. Foster care payments are dead flat. Costs of raising children are WAY up over the last 2 years. Calls to take placements have skyrocketed, as evidenced through my missed calls log. Do you suppose the IA legislature or the governor’s office allocated increases to the DHS budget to ensure that our state’s children do not literally become homeless? I know a 12-year-old IA girl that is parentless and homeless. Is this OK, Iowa?
For perspective, I am right-leaning politically, and typically vote for the most libertarian candidate on a ticket. I am 100% for shrinking state government, reducing taxes, and retuning tax surplus
when it is truly a surplus.
Our elected officials talk about all this overtaxing, and need to reduce taxes, etc. There is a half-truth there. Yes there is a large dollar amount surplus on paper. The trouble is that the size of state government got cut all on its own through inflation, while our tax receipts are up substantially (increase income tax on wage inflation + increase sales tax on goods and services inflation), and there is very little effort to consider WHO is taking the brunt of this cut and what it means for them in the coming years.
