Creating jobs with a small business tax cut

Senator Joe Bolkcom, chair of the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee, leads the effort for a commercial prop tax cut.

Tough times mean Iowa’s small businesses aren’t able to create the jobs Iowa communities need. One smart way to help small businesses grow is to cut their property taxes.

A Senate proposal to cut commercial property taxes was approved during the 2011 session by a bipartisan vote of 46-4. While the Senate plan gives every business a commercial property tax cut, it focuses on helping small businesses the most. In fact, the Senate plan slashes commercial property taxes for four out of five businesses by 45 percent.

One reason commercial property tax reform has been stalled for years is that property taxes provide stable support for local services, such as schools, roads, police, fire, libraries and economic growth. Under the bipartisan Senate proposal, these services are protected by a dollar-for-dollar state-funded tax credit. Unlike competing proposals, there is no shift of the tax burden onto residential property taxpayers. This has made our Senate proposal popular among property taxpayers, as well as business, school and community leaders.

To start creating jobs again, Iowa’s small businesses need help. The Senate’s plan to cut commercial property taxes provides that help without giving millions in tax breaks to huge out-of-state corporations.

We’ll be working this spring to convince the Iowa House and Governor Branstad to join the Senate’s bipartisan effort to cut taxes for our small businesses.