State Ends FY21 With Record Budget Surplus

This week, the State of Iowa closed the books on Fiscal Year 2021 with a $1.24 billion budget surplus. The State’s emergency and cash reserve funds are also topped out, hitting just over $800 million. Iowa’s fiscal year ended June 30, but there is an accrual period of 3 months following that as the State officially closes their books. In May, the Legislative Services Agency estimated the surplus for FY21 would be just under $500 million. Personal income, sales and use and corporate taxes were up significantly higher than agency analysts expected between May and the present. 

Iowa has one of the healthiest budgets in the nation due to a number of factors including Governor Kim Reynolds declaring from the onset of the pandemic that over 80% of businesses are “essential.” This means they never closed. Prudent and conservative budgeting by the Iowa Legislature affected the budget as well. Governor Reynolds has indicated on multiple occasions that individual income tax cuts would be at the forefront of her agenda during the 2022 legislative session. Read more from The Des Moines Register and The Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier.