Government : Hello District 75 from the State Capitol!

The Iowa House Representatives have started talks on the Education budget and will try to get this done in agreement with the Iowa Senate as soon as possible. There will be increases but the final figures have yet to be decided.

Also in early talks are the income tax rates and how to get the overpayments back to Iowans. Unfortunately, Iowa has the 4th highest individual top rate income tax rate (6.5% for year 2023) out of the 12 midwest states, according to Iowans For Tax Relief (https://taxrelief.org) and is tied for first/worst in the top corporate income tax rate at 9.8%. South Dakota has the best rates in both categories - ZERO PERCENT! We can and we will do better for Iowans!

The legislature is having talks on the income taxes retirees pay and plan to eliminate them. Retirees work hard their whole lives and need to be able to keep their money and not have government take it. Even Illinois does not have a tax retirement income.

The state legislators along with Governor Reynolds are proposing legislation to promote E15 gasoline at gas stations that have new enough equipment to handle it. Even though there's not too much difference in E10 and E15 gas per gallon, this will be a big help for farmers and ag-related jobs if signed into law by the governor. I will try to collect more information this week about the benefits of this bill.

I hope you all are healthy. Please be careful of the cold & snow and be safe! It's great to have February here!