David Swenson, associate scientist, was quoted in an April 25th Des Moines Register article, "What you missed overnight: Legislature passes new hurdles to raising property taxes."
Dave Swenson, an economist at Iowa State University, has closely analyzed the earlier tax proposals. He's reviewing the scaled-back version, but he still disagrees with its premise. He used state and federal data to show city and county property taxes in Iowa have remained at about 1.9 percent of personal income in the past decade.
Swenson also believes the language over IPERS will effectively encroach on other general fund services over time.
"It appears to limit local government without acknowledging the unique pressures they face, and purports that local government in and of itself is irresponsible or otherwise devious in their administration of local affairs,” he said.
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