Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
A Democratic tax reform proposal that failed to pass during the 2009 session is supported by a majority of Iowans, according to a poll conducted by Selzer and Associates.
The poll, commissioned by the non-partisan Iowa Fiscal Partnership (IFP), found that 63 percent of those polled favored changes to Iowa’s tax code that would result in three-quarters of Iowans paying lower taxes and an end to a provision that allows state residents to write off their federal taxes on state returns.
Democrats proposed an end to federal deductibility last session in a bill they said would lower the overall tax rate for every citizen. But those making more than $125,000 a year would have begun paying slightly more under the new system, up to $1,400 a year for Iowans making $250,000 or more a year.
Republicans vehemently opposed the changes, with conservative group Iowans for Tax Relief calling the legislation a “tax on a tax.”
Ultimately, the proposal was abandoned.
The poll, which sampled 500 Iowa voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points, also found about six in 10 voters favor some increase in taxes and fees to balance the state’s budget rather than cuts alone.
By almost 4-to-1, voters believe that average-income working Iowans, the working poor and small businesses saw little or no benefit from tax cuts over the last 20 years. By 4-to-1 or more, these respondents believe that those taxpayers — working families making $80,000 or less, and small businesses — pay either the right amount now or more than they should.
“This survey confirms that Iowa voters expect everything should be on the table in dealing with this current budget crisis,” said Charles Bruner, executive director of the Child & Family Policy Center, which along with the Iowa Policy Project makes up IFP. “Voters understand the state budget includes both spending and revenues, and that we need to address both to meet our challenges.”
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