Hearing Held on Senate Property Tax Bill

April 18, 2019

The Senate on Tuesday introduced its proposed changes to property tax. SSB 1260 is similar to the House bill in some ways, but some differences include: total amount of increase is 3%, lowers the threshold for a reverse referendum from 20% to 10%, places retirement contributions outside of the cap, establishes a property tax system advisory group that includes industrial representation but leaves out commercial, provides for a credit to help individuals older than 65 handle the burden of property tax increases, and states what appraisal manual should be used when making assessments. During the subcommittee on Wednesday, ABI thanked the Legislature for bringing forward the legislation and the efforts to increase transparency and slow the growth of property taxes for Iowa businesses. Several local government officials attended the subcommittee to talk about how the bill will be negative to local governments and how they are managing their budgets and also lower their levy rates. The Senate is expected to advance its legislation out of the full Ways and Means Committee today. More information will be provided on the ABI legislative update call tomorrow.