Iowa Republicans keep forging a better future and making it easier to prosper

The state Legislature ended its 2024 session in late April with not one, but two all-night sessions. After eight years of quality results for constituents, you would think the body’s GOP leaders would opt to coast into recess. Not so for this effective bunch. This term, lawmakers stuck to a three-pronged agenda — reducing taxes again, shrinking the size of government, and easing regulatory burdens — and it’s working.

Our jobless rate is running well below the national average, and Iowa has been recognized as the number one state for a low cost of living and fiscal responsibility. These numbers are impressive, and there is more to the story. By trusting families and entrepreneurs more, and top-down government less, Republicans have turned this state into a place where people will come to thrive and make an impact on their communities.

Let’s take taxes first.

Over the last several years, Americans living in high-tax states have fled to states with lower taxes.

Gov. Kim Reynolds understands this trend and already signed legislation that speeds implementation of a previously approved flat tax. Starting in 2025, the top and only income tax rate in Iowa will be 3.8%. Only five states will have a lower levy. When Reynolds took office in 2017, at 8.98% Iowa’s top rate was the sixth-highest in the country.

Reducing taxes was particularly important this session since, due to President Joe Biden’s inflation, Iowans still face higher food and energy costs. Reynolds and GOP lawmakers gave residents a breath of financial freedom by taking the first step to enshrine the flat tax in the state constitution and to require a two-thirds majority vote in both legislative chambers to raise taxes in the future. Lawmakers will have to finish work on those initiatives in the next General Assembly.

High taxes are a barrier to job creation and innovation, but so is red tape. One study found the federal regulatory burden costs small manufacturers $50,100 per employee per year. At $3 trillion, the cumulative costs of federal red tape is more than the economic output of the entire U.S. manufacturing industry.

The Biden regulatory state is expanding by the day, but the second leg of Iowa Republicans’ pro-growth stool remains to reduce these costs here at home. Senate File 2370 will require an analysis of all new rules and will sunset regulations unless they undergo a substantive review and are re-adopted.

State lawmakers also made it easier to become an educator in Iowa. House File 255 modifies requirements related to teacher intern license programs and establishes a temporary initial teaching license to be issued by the board of educational examiners to applicants who complete an alternative teacher certification program.

While entrenched special interests fought this bill, it is necessary if Iowa wants to continue to avoid the large scale teacher shortages. Reynolds has been on the front lines of this issue. In 2022, she implemented an innovative program, the Teacher and Paraeducator Registered Apprenticeship Grant Program, that allows paraeducators to earn their bachelor’s degree while working in the classroom. Changes like these are why our state is able to fill more of its teacher vacancies than others.

Finally, lawmakers also continued to reduce the size of government so that it works better citizens.

For example, Senate File 2385 will eliminate 83 unnecessary and redundant unelected boards and commissions and require an ongoing annual review of boards and commissions. It returns accountability to the people of Iowa through their elected representatives and reduces waste as many of these bodies are no longer meeting or serve an outdated function.

The legislation also consolidates bodies with similar mandates in order to better serve the public. It creates, for example, a Behavioral Health Professionals Board that will bring together psychologists, social workers, and other mental health professionals to help address mounting national challenges like addiction, depression, and burnout. Another bill, Senate File 2096, repealed gender balance requirements for appointive bodies in order to ensure the most qualified Iowans can serve.

While the Biden administration’s top down policies burden Iowans, lawmakers at home burn the midnight oil to make it easier to live, work, and prosper.

I’m grateful they don’t seem to need sleep.

Tyler Raygor is the Iowa state director for Americans for Prosperity.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Republicans forge a better future, cutting taxes, bureaucracy