by Mike Owen
(previously published in the QC Times)

Listen to the article here

One way to approach Iowa’s constitutional amendment question is to ask yourself serious questions.

• Do you trust legislators elected in 2022 and 2024 to dictate options for policymakers in 2030? 2040? Even 40 or 50 years from now?
• Do you believe 17 state senators, barely one-third of the Senate, should be able to override the will of 133 other elected legislators, a governor and the popular will of the voters?
• Do you think Iowa is currently in good enough financial shape to provide the critical public services we need now, let alone decades from now?
• Do you realize that tax cuts in recent years have not only reduced resources but also provided meaningful benefits only to rich individuals and powerful corporations?

Amendment One on the November ballot would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate to raise individual or corporate income tax rates. It is designed to lock in those recent cuts for the wealthy — and permanently hamper Iowa’s investment in education, healthcare, environmental quality and public safety.

Those recent cuts passed despite expectations of nearly $2 billion less annual revenue, according to the Legislature’s own fiscal experts, than Iowa would receive under the previous law to responsibly fund a budget of about $9 billion. They guaranteed future budget deficits.

Lawmakers have patched the holes temporarily using reserves, which resulted from underfunding services and saving revenue gains from federal pandemic relief. It’s a fiscal cliff, assuring that when the reserves run dry in the next couple of years, either drastic cuts in services will be necessary or new revenues will be needed.

The amendment takes off the table any attempt to correct the impact of previous income tax cuts and may even prevent plugging loopholes used by corporations or the wealthy. It would force increases in sales tax — or deep cuts in education.

Come to think of it, this might even reduce funding for private school vouchers, which could concern voucher proponents. Nothing would be off the table for cuts, as the state constitution requires a balanced budget.

Save everyone a lot of future headaches and protect our responsibilities to each other as Iowans. Vote “No” on Amendment One.

Mike Owen is a former Statehouse reporter and recently retired from over 20 years in nonpartisan policy analysis and advocacy at the Iowa Policy Project and Common Good Iowa.