Workforce, Taxes and Regulatory Reform Top ABI’s 2024 Agenda

Hundreds of ABI members gathered over the course of the summer and fall to establish our priorities and policies for the coming year. Our grassroots process ensures that members can make their voices heard in what the association stands for. The ABI public policy staff will be seeking to achieve success in three priority areas: workforce, taxes, and regulatory reform.

Workforce

Workforce encompasses topics such as childcare, workforce housing, funding for programs that allow Iowans to upskill and drug and alcohol testing in workplaces.

The Legislature approved, and Governor Kim Reynolds has signed several bills related to childcare over the last few years whether that’s eliminating the cliff effect for employees, expanding income thresholds for tax credits for families or increasing reimbursement rates for childcare providers. Policy solutions like these and hundreds of millions of dollars in funding have made childcare more affordable and available. The workforce housing tax credit program has been reformed and expanded due to significant demand and return on investment. Now more monies are reaching less populous areas of the state, which will increase the vitality of rural precincts. Tens of millions of dollars have been delivered to Future Ready Iowa programs and other resources that support Iowans in their quest to gain more skills and provide a better life for themselves. One thing the Legislature hasn’t addressed yet is drug and alcohol testing reform, which will be a specific priority of ABI next year. 

Taxes

Perhaps no other state in the country has overhauled their tax system in such a pro-growth manner as Iowa has done since 2018. Three major income tax bills have been signed into law since that point in time. A historic, $100 million property tax cut bill was approved in 2023 as well. In 2018, Iowa had a progressive, nine bracket individual income tax system with a top rate of 8.98%. Iowa also had a graduated top rate of 12.0% for corporations. By 2026, Iowa will have a flat individual income tax rate of 3.9% with corporations set to have a flat tax rate of 5.5% in a few years. To demonstrate the transformation even further, the nonpartisan Tax Foundation ranked Iowa’s business tax climate as 46th prior to the 2018 reforms. Once the latest tax bill from 2022 is fully enacted, we’ll move to 15th in their rankings.

Leading policymakers have indicated they are not finished in addressing individual and corporate income tax rates as well as property taxes. ABI fully expects legislation to be considered in 2024 that considers these issues once more.

Regulatory Reform

This past session, policymakers approved the most significant overhaul of how our state government functions in decades. The law streamlined cabinet level agency directors from 37 to 16, which puts us in line with surrounding states. The overhaul will ultimately save taxpayers $200 million. The law also included a review of existing boards and commissions, which recently concluded. ABI is supporting the idea of making changes to the Property Assessment Appeals Board (PAAB) to ensure the board returns to its original mission of being an effective resource for property taxpayers.

ABI has a full agenda ahead of us in 2024. ABI public policy staff will be working hard to ensure that our priorities are acted upon in the spring.