A pair of Republican lawmakers told a Fort Dodge audience Friday that they’re eager to reach a compromise on a massive tax cut bill so they can wrap up this year’s legislative session.

However, one of their Democratic colleagues said the eventual tax cut plan probably won’t be the great deal for most Iowans that Republicans hope it will be.

“You cut and cut and cut and the line is that everybody gets more money in their pocket to spend, but that money gets taken out in other places by other fees and things,” state Rep. Helen Miller, D-Fort Dodge, said Friday evening during an Eggs and Issues legislative forum.

She was joined at the forum by state Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink, R-Fort Dodge, and state Rep. Mike Sexton, R-Rockwell City.

The roughly 45 people at the forum held at the Iowa Central Community College East Campus heard Kraayenbrink and Miller disagree over how their respective parties approach taxation.

According to Kraayenbrink, the Republican Party believes that cutting taxes is the way to stimulate the economy. He said the Democratic Party believes raising taxes is the way to stimulate the economy.

“That is just a philosophical difference between the two parties,” he said.

Miller disagreed with his assessment of the Democratic Party’s stance on taxes.

“I have never heard of that,” she said. “I have never said that I believe the way to stimulate the economy is to raise taxes.”

The federal tax cuts signed into law by President Donald Trump late last year are the impetus for the latest effort by legislative Republicans to cut taxes.

That tax cut is expected to give Iowa’s state government more money, because Iowans are allowed to deduct the amount of money they pay in federal income taxes from their state income taxes. Since Iowans will be paying less to the federal government, they will have less to deduct from their state income taxes.

The result of that is an estimated $188 million more for the state government.

“What do you want to do with that $188 million?” Sexton asked. “Do we give that $188 million back to the citizens, give their money back to them, or do we spend it on government programs?”

This year, Gov. Kim Reynolds, Senate Republicans and House Republicans have all introduced different tax cut plans. The Senate tax cut plan was approved by that chamber on March 1. The House Republicans are still working on their plan, which doesn’t cut taxes as sharply as the Senate proposal does.

“It’s going to be all about compromise,” Sexton said.

He said he expects the leaders of both houses to negotiate until the two bills are identical. After that happens, he said he expects the bill will be approved by both houses and be sent to Reynolds.

“Somewhere in the middle is where it’s going to be,” Kraayenbrink said.

Miller said the current tax cut proposals are just the latest in a string of such measures offered by Republicans.

“Having come to the legislature in 2003 and sat there every year since, every session the No. 1 thing from the Republican side has been to cut taxes and so we have cut taxes and cut taxes and cut taxes and cut taxes and cut taxes,” she said. “And here we are again in a hole and their solution is to cut taxes some more.”

Kraayenbrink and Sexton said local governments will likely get their full property tax backfill amount in the fiscal year that begins July 1.

In 2013, the legislature and former Gov. Terry Branstad implemented a property tax cut for businesses. In doing that, they promised to give cities, counties and school districts payments to make up for the lost property tax revenue. Those payments are called backfill. Fort Dodge receives about $600,000 a year in backfill money.

Faced with a tight budget again, legislators hinted recently that they may cut the backfill payments.

But Sexton and Kraayenbrink said it now appears the local governments will get the full backfill amount in the next fiscal year. However, in the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2019, those payments will begin to be reduced, they said.

“I’ve always said what we need to do is get mayors and county supervisors and legislators in a room and figure out how do we slowly wind this down so we’re not committed to 100 percent of everything,” Kraayenbrink said.

Eggs and Issues is sponsored by the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance and Iowa Central Community College. It was held on Friday because the planned April 14 session was postponed due to a winter storm.

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