(Griswold) Iowa House District #23 Representative Tom Moore is responding to the proposed Senate File 550 bill, which offers to convert the local option sales tax efforts into a statewide sales tax and impose the local option sales tax in every jurisdiction, triggering the constitutional amendment to require allocation of three-eighths of a cent to the Iowa Water and Land Legacy Iowa Trust Fund.
Moore says in 2010, the people of Iowa voted on the IWill or the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreational Trust Fund amendment. The amendment stated that when sales tax increased by one penny, three-eights of that penny would go to this Natural Resources Outdoor Recreational Trust Fund.
Moore says Senate File 550 removes the penny local municipalities have voted on for their local revenue. On Tuesday morning, the Cass County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution supporting the present Local Option Sales and Services Tax.
Meanwhile, Moore doesn’t think this Senate bill will survive the House.
Cass County Supervisor Steve Green stated at Tuesday’s meeting that he favors having state money going towards IWILL if the state wants to raise funds through its three-eighths of a cent tax and not take away what voters have voted on to put into the local area.
The proposed Senate File 550 sunsets on January 1, 2025, after which no jurisdiction will have the authority to take a local options sale tax proposal or revenue purpose statement to a vote, essentially deleting the local government’s ability to have local option sales taxes.
