Newsletter archives

April 21, 2025 | Workers need dignity and a fair wage, not tax gimmicks

When work doesn’t pay, it’s time for serious economic solutions. But proposals advancing in the Iowa House — HF 1024 and HF 1030, which would remove income tax on overtime and tipped income — are shiny distractions that do little to help. While these bills may sound like a break for hardworking Iowans, they’re poorly targeted and poorly designed.

Also: UI and property taxes, minority rule on incomes tax increases, paid parental leave for state employees, federal tax and budget proposals, threats to Head Start

March 28, 2025 | ‘Cost shift’: How federal budget cuts would leave Iowa lawmakers in the lurch

Leaders in Congress are negotiating a budget plan that would take health coverage and nutrition assistance away from millions of people — all to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest households and corporations. Although negotiations are happening among lawmakers in DC, they have massive implications for lawmakers in Des Moines.

Also: Proposed property tax cuts raise concerns

January 24, 2025 | Overtime and tips from taxes is wrong solution to a very real problem

Well-intentioned policy changes do not always make things better. Case in point: ideas to exempt overtime pay and tips from income taxes. Such proposals, now emerging in Iowa, aim to address a fundamental problem — that many people are working hard but still struggling to make ends meet. But tax cuts are a clumsy tool with real downsides.

Also: UI taxes, unsupervised teens in child care, dangerous SNAP cuts

January 17, 2025 | Lawmakers look to cut Medicaid by ramping up administrative hurdles

In 2013, Iowa was among the first states to take up the federal option to expand Medicaid to low-income adults. In doing so, we cut our state’s uninsured rates and made it possible for thousands of Iowans to see a doctor, get medications, and go to the hospital without fear of choosing between their health, buying groceries or paying the rent. The Governor and some lawmakers — empowered by the incoming presidential administration — now want to pare back Iowa’s adult coverage gains.

January 15, 2025 | Contact your Member of Congress TODAY and tell them to protect Medicaid

Politico last week published a leaked document from the U.S. House outlining budget cuts they are considering to pay for tax cuts skewed to the wealthy. Unsurprisingly, Medicaid — health insurance for low-income children, low-wage workers, people with disabilities and older adults in nursing homes — was the biggest target. Our Iowa House delegation needs to hear from you this week, as Congress mulls its next steps on the budget.