Rep. Dean Fisher (R-Montour).

The 2025 legislative session is well underway. As I write this, the opening addresses from the Governor, the Chief Justice, and the head of the Iowa National Guard are all done, many bills are getting filed, and our committee work is underway.

The major theme for this session will be the ongoing topic of economic relief for all Iowans. Iowans are feeling the pain of the Biden Administration’s four years in Washington. Inflation served as one of the top motivating issues this election cycle. One of the biggest things the legislature can do to directly help Iowans weather the storm of inflation is cut taxes, which we have done already with the income tax. More income tax cuts were just implemented on January 1, 2025, lowering all taxpaying Iowans’ income tax rate to 3.8%.

Meanwhile, Democrats talk about wanting to help Iowans with high costs, but they really don’t have a leg to stand on given their party’s track record with their own inflationary policies. Iowa Democrats voted against every income tax cut we’ve passed over the last few years. Their claims that these tax cuts only benefit the wealthy don’t hold any water. All taxpaying Iowans have had their tax rate significantly lowered by Iowa Republicans.

Now that the Legislature has lowered income taxes, Iowans have been loud and clear that they want us to shift our focus to property taxes. There will likely be multiple ideas brought forward this session on the best way to address property taxes. For Iowa House Republicans, our focus will be on providing certainty to the taxpayer and ensuring that the taxpayers are put at the forefront of the conversation over the taxing entities.

Let’s not lull ourselves into thinking this property tax issue will be easy. Property taxes are spent by your local governments, schools, counties and cities, not by the state legislature. Costs of fixing our roads, running our elections, operating our public schools, and providing all the other services local governments provide aren’t going down. The legislature can’t craft laws that account for the needs in every one of 99 different counties, 360+ school districts, and the hundreds of cities in Iowa. We can lay down general guidelines in state law, but it’s up to each local government entity to decide what their needs and priorities are. The legislature must proceed with caution.

As always, I look forward to seeing you at the capitol, or in the district.

Rep. Dean Fisher’s district covers all of Poweshiek County and most of Tama County excluding the northeast corner.