Property tax reform was a central issue to this year’s Iowa legislative session, and in the Legislature, we promised to work on reform and deliver real relief for Iowa families.
A certain apartment developer and current congressional candidate has written a pair of Register guest essays, and in other mediums, opposing those efforts. Many of my Senate colleagues and I find Joe Mitchell’s comments to be misleading, glossing over some key historical context and other relevant facts, all while displaying his own self-interest and lack of vision for real reform.
In 2013 the Legislature, under split party control, passed into law a substantial tax benefit where the taxable value of multi-residential properties and manufactured home parks received a 46% cut in their property taxable values. The entities lobbying for this benefit promised the Legislature that such property tax relief would translate into lower rents for Iowans. Who are those advocates, you may ask? They are effectively the predecessor to the Iowa Real Estate Developers Association, founded by Mitchell.
Unfortunately, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, over the same period while corporations received this hefty benefit, the median rent rates in Iowa still increased 36%. Whatever the intentions of the 2013 legislation were, the result was a tax environment where it’s better to own a property to rent than a property for your own family. As a conservative Republican and someone who owns a rental property, I cannot condone a tax system where I have a better tax advantage to own a rental property than to own a family home. Furthermore, this out-of-balance tax environment is one of the contributing factors to out-of-state capital flooding into Iowa and running up the prices on properties.
Mitchell seems to lack any real policy goals other than ensuring multi-residential properties keep the same tax rate as a family home while still raising rents on Iowans, eroding the local town tax base, and further incentivizing the depopulation of rural Iowa. Add in housing tax credits and tax increment financing, and the Iowa taxpayer’s loss has been Mitchell’s gain. Additionally, in choosing to continually engage in these editorials and interviews, he exposes his real concern with reform ― that more people will actually be able to afford owning a home in our great state, affecting his own paychecks.
Luckily the Iowa governor and Legislature, in a bipartisan effort, decided to tackle these broken systems and bring them back into balance with a $4 billion overall relief package and give every family-owned home an additional 10% taxable value discount. We chose families, not corporations, to have the best housing tax environment in our state. Not only that, but the House, Senate, and the governor have passed legislation this year to push Iowa further down the path of eliminating Iowa’s income tax.
Mitchell did have his chance to support real reforms in the Iowa Legislature as a member of the Iowa House. Instead, he advocated for using taxpayer dollars to bring in people from Puerto Rico to take Iowa jobs. Since losing his Republican primary, he worked for the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development while, apparently, simultaneously developing apartment buildings in Iowa. This arrangement would seem to make Nancy Pelosi’s stock trading look ethical.
Ronald Reagan coined the 11th Commandment, thou shalt not attack a fellow Republican. In Mitchell’s case, he appears to share traits much closer to Hunter Biden than to the Gipper.
Dan Dawson of Council Bluffs is chair of the Iowa Senate Ways and Means Committee. He represents Senate District 10, which consists mostly of Council Bluffs and Carter Lake.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Self-serving concern motivates attack on property tax law | Opinion
Reporting by Dan Dawson, Guest columnist / Des Moines Register
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