Will preventing taxes on the rich hurt Iowa’s working class?
That’s what a coalition of worker and middle-class advocates in Iowa say will happen if Amendment 1 passes this November.
“Iowa deserves a tax system where everyone pays their fair share, not one written by and for big corporations and their CEO,” said Joshua Brown, President of the Iowa State Education Association, which represents public school teachers.
He’s one of several people who spoke out Wednesday against Amendment 1, which will be on Iowans’ ballot this November.
What is Amendment 1?
Amendment 1 is a ballot measure that would change Iowa’s constitution to require a two-thirds supermajority in each house of the Iowa Legislature to raise income and corporate taxes.
That means 17 state senators out of 150 would have the power to “reject the will of the majority,” according to Iowa columnist Ed Tibbetts.
Who doesn’t like the idea of limiting tax hikes?
“If you simply present a tax question about, ‘Hey, should we make it hard to raise taxes?’ with no context, of course, people are gonna be like, ‘Tell me more. That sounds interesting,’” said Anne Discher, executive director of Common Good Iowa.
But limiting income and corporate taxes, opponents argue, will mean corporations and the rich are protected while everyone else deals with the fallout.
How can I be hurt by limiting tax hikes?
“Iowa is already facing significant budget challenges, and if Amendment 1 passes, it will make it harder for lawmakers to raise revenue when we need it, and they will have to look elsewhere to close budget gaps,” said Paige Chickering, Vice Chair of the Iowa Hunger Coalition.
That “elsewhere” could include raising other taxes that hit working Iowans harder, like the sales tax. Or it could mean cutting funding for essential services even further.
“The question isn’t whether Iowa balances its budget. It’s what gets cut when we do,” Brown said. “ And I’ve been at this long enough to know the answer: It’s teachers. Paraprofessionals. A school nurse. A reading specialist. A music program, the counselor, a bus route. It’s always our kids.”
The Vote No campaign
That’s why several Iowa organizations, including schools, unions, and the Iowa Hunger Coalition, banded together to form the Vote No campaign.
“With food insecurity on the rise in Iowa, and one in six children facing hunger, we need more resources to support our communities—not budget cuts that will hit those already struggling the hardest,” said Chickering.
Raising taxes on the rich is an extremely popular issue. Amendment 1 would basically take that option away.
“The only way I can understand that they’re picking out these two taxes, the corporate income tax and the personal income tax, is those are the two taxes that can be structured to ask the wealthy and profitable corporations to pay their fair share,” said Discher.
And with Iowa running billion-dollar deficits lately, they’ll have to make up the difference on the rest of us.
“It diverts our source of revenue to those taxes like sales tax, property tax, fees, tuition that predominantly impact low and middle income households, seniors with fixed incomes,” said Kylie Spies, senior policy advocate with Common Good Iowa. “So we are shifting that money towards working people and retired people, asking them to pick up a greater share of revenue.”
