WATCH: An invisible tax: How renters subsidize property owners

By Iowa Production Staff, Zachary Oren Smith

January 12, 2026

Renters pay property taxes—it’s just hidden in your rent.

In 2013, Iowa gave apartment owners a tax break with a promise: they’d pass savings to renters. 12 years later? That never happened.

Now Democrats are proposing $500 rebates for renters. But will renters actually get relief in a state that bans rent control and where Republicans run the show?

Iowa Production Staff,

View all posts
Zachary Oren Smith

Zachary Oren Smith is your friendly neighborhood reporter. He leads Starting Line’s political coverage where he investigates corruption, housing affordability and the future of work. For nearly a decade, he’s written award-winning stories for Iowa Public Radio, The Des Moines Register and Iowa City Press-Citizen. Send your tips on hard news and good food to [email protected].

View all posts

CATEGORIES: POLITICS VIDEO

Support Our Cause

Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for Iowans and our future.

Since day one, our goal here at Iowa Starting Line has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of Iowan families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.