Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
While he is disappointed lawmakers didn’t go further, Gov. Chet Culver will sign tax credit reform legislation, a spokesman for the Democrat said Tuesday.
The bill, Senate File 2380, aims to reduce the state’s tax credit payments by $115 million, or roughly 22 percent, by suspending the film tax credit program for two years and scaling back other credits or placing caps on their awards. A fiscal note issued by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency projected the savings would actually be $5.4 million next fiscal year, $25.2 million in fiscal 2012 and $35.9 million in fiscal 2013 — with most of those reductions tied to the film credit suspension.
The Iowa Fiscal Partnership, a nonpartisan organization that has advocated for tax credit reform for many years, called the bill “more cosmetic than real,” saying it would have very limited impacts on the “runaway growth in tax credits and their damage to the state’s budget process.”
A bipartisan Tax Credit Review Panel, which was established by the governor in the wake of revelations of misconduct surrounding the Iowa Film Tax Credit program, recommended earlier this year that the state eliminate eight tax credits completely, including the film credit. It also called for a five-year sunset on credits, eliminating “refundability” of the Research Activities Credit for large companies, eliminating transferability of credits and placing all business credits under a $185 million cap.
Those ideas didn’t make the final version of the bill.
“The governor wishes this bill would have enacted more of the Tax Credit Review Panel’s recommendations,” said Troy Price, the governor’s press secretary. “However, he understands that this bill was what the legislature could accomplish this year, and will sign the legislation because he believes it is a good first step.”
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