According the report, Iowa families earning less than $20,000 a year — the poorest fifth of Iowa non-elderly taxpayers — pay 11 percent of their income in state and local taxes. Middle-income families — those earning between $37,000 and $56,000 — pay 10 percent of their income in Iowa state and local taxes.

The richest Iowa taxpayers, with income averaging $989,200, pay 7.4 percent of their income in state and local taxes.

When a state tax law that allows residents to write off federal taxes on state returns is factored in, the wealthiest Iowans pay only 6 percent of their income in state and local taxes. Low-income taxpayers see no benefit from the deduction.

“No one would ever design an income tax with lower tax rates for the best-off taxpayers,” said Matthew Gardner, executive director of the D.C.-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy and lead author of the report. “But that is exactly what Iowa’s tax system overall does. It allows the very wealthiest individuals to contribute less of their income, on average, than middle- and lower-income families must pay. In other words, Iowa has an unfair, regressive tax system.”

Peter Fisher, research director of the Iowa Policy Project, said the report shows the need in Iowa for dramatic income-tax reform. He said the report confirmed Iowa’s reliance on “regressive” taxes — sales, excise and property taxes — which fall heavier as a share of income on lower-income families, and the weak progressivity of the state income tax.

During the 2009 legislative session, Democrats proposed to end federal deductibility and rework the tax code to lower the overall tax rate for every citizen. However, those making more than $125,000 a year would have ended up paying slightly more under the new system, up to $1,400 a year for Iowans making $250,000 or more a year.

Fierce opposition from conservative groups like Iowans for Tax Relief ultimately killed the proposal. The Muscatine-based group, which helped derail a similar proposal in the 1980s when it was pushed by former Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, said ending federal deductibility “flies in the face of common sense Iowa values and is simply unfair.”

Iowa State University economist David Swenson told the Iowa Independent during the session that federal deductibility was an “archaic holdover from a long ago time that nobody really knows why it exists anymore.”

Iowa, Alabama and Louisiana are the only states that allow federal taxes to be deducted on state returns.

Last week Rants tried to attach a Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage to the state’s Health and Human Services budget, but the move was ruled out of order.

This time, Rants is trying to insert language defining a married couple as “a man and a woman” for the purposes of the state’s tax code into House File 807, a tax reform bill that ends Iowans ability to deduct their federal taxes on state returns and uses those funds to lower the overall tax rate.

“I’m not a big fan of HF 807, and I’m not a fan of the [Supreme] Court’s decision – so I’ve tried to marry the two issues together in hopes of either stopping the former, or getting around the latter,” Rants wrote on his blog Monday, later adding: “For the last several weeks, I’ve been dreading the day Speaker [Pat] Murphy brings HF 807 to the floor. Now I actually hope that they do. I look forward to the debate.”

The change to Iowa’s tax code would almost certainly be deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, since it flies in the face of the court’s April 3 ruling in Varnum v. Brien, which said the state’s laws cannot treat same-sex couples different from opposite-sex couples for the purposes of marriage.

But, while it may not change the ruling, if Democratic leadership is not able to rule the move out of order, it could either force a straight up or down vote on the language of the amendment — effectively forcing a direct vote on whether marriage should be defined as a union between one man and one woman — or kill the tax bill.

Debate on the tax bill is expected Tuesday or Wednesday.

A coalition of same-sex marriage opponents, including the Iowa Family Policy Center, the Iowa Christian Alliance and Everyday America, will rally at the capitol today with the hope of convincing lawmakers to take up the controversial marriage amendment. The gathering is expected to go from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. A similar rally was held Thursday, after which Republican Rep. Christopher Rants of Sioux City tried and failed to attach the amendment, which would ban same-sex marriage, to the Health and Human Services budget.

Most expect another Republican attempt this week to force a vote on the amendment, although House Minority Leader Kraig Paulsen, R-Hiawatha, told the Cedar Rapids Gazette’s James Lynch that the marriage issue wouldn’t prolong the session.

One Iowa, the state’s largest LGBT advocacy organization, is planning to counter the conservative gathering with a “virtual rally” by asking supporters of same-sex marriage to call legislators.

Iowans for Tax Relief will rally Tuesday at 10 a.m. to oppose proposed legislation that would end federal deductibility, which allows state residents to write off their federal tax burden on their state returns. The change is part of a Democratic tax reform plan that could be debated Tuesday or Wednesday. During a public hearing on the bill last month, a group organized by Iowans for Tax Relief had to be removed from the House gallery after repeatedly ignoring requests to stop booing speakers they disagreed with.

Then, on Wednesday, the second Des Moines Tea Party will be held at the capitol from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. A similar event was held Saturday as part of conservative radio host and Fox News contributor Glenn Beck’s “9-12 Project.” Wednesday’s event is completely separate and designed as an antitaxation demonstration to evoke the memory of the Boston Tea Party. The gathering’s press release says several speakers are scheduled, but their names, as well as the organization behind the gathering, are not listed.

While advertised around the country as spontaneous grassroots gatherings of concerned taxpayers, some observers have pointed out that in many cases the tea parties are organized by corporate lobbyists and conservative groups like FreedomWorks, run by former Republican U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Army.

The group’s Web site does, however, have a list of appropriate signs for the event.

Sen. Harkin stands with Karroll and Diane Kurtz in front of their flooded Coralville home

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, learned this firsthand from Karroll and Diane Kurtz during a tour in Coralville. The Kurtzes, whose home was destroyed by the flood, have been living in hotels and with family members before moving into a trailer provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in West Branch three weeks ago.

“We are still waiting to hear whether we will qualify for a home buyout, but we’ve been told that process may not begin happening until March or April,” Karroll Kurtz said.

“This just doesn’t make any sense,” Harkin said. “It can’t be Congress’ fault. We’ve already appropriated over $2 billion. Where is that money? Why isn’t it getting out more? Where are the roadblocks?”

Coralville City Manager Kelly Hayworth responded to Harkin’s rhetorical question, telling him that the city would be willing to front the money for the homes that would be bought out if it could receive guarantees that the city would be reimbursed by the state and federal government.

Meanwhile, the Kurtzes remain in limbo, making the 10-mile commute from West Branch to Iowa City every day for work.

Earlier on the tour, Harkin, accompanied by several Coralville city officials, visited the flood-damaged Old Chicago restaurant on Highway 6 of the Coralville strip. The restaurant was one of many businesses along the north side of the highway that were flooded when the Iowa River crested and spilled over the embankment behind them.

Sen. Harkin tries to get full understanding of unemployment concerns from Old Chicago owner Joe McLaughlin

Harkin was greeted by the restaurant’s owner, Joe McLaughlin, who expressed concerns about not only his unemployed workers but the additional financial hit he will take for paying into the federal unemployment system. “I have 78 employees, 60 of which are still unemployed,” McLaughlin said. “This will cause the rate of my unemployment insurance to shoot up, which will take three years to bring back down to the pre-flood rate.”

“We need to look into that,” Harkin said to one of his staffers, Thomas Larkin.

“There is disaster unemployment, but employees first have to apply for regular unemployment,” Larkin said. “If they don’t qualify for regular, then they can apply for the disaster unemployment.”

Despite the unemployment concerns, McLaughlin remains optimistic Old Chicago will be open by Oct. 1. “Ideally I would like to be open in time for the Iowa-Iowa State football game,” McLaughlin said.

Afterward the tour moved behind Old Chicago to the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway tracks, which runs along the embankment that serves as a levy during flooding. City officials are hoping to elevate a two-mile stretch of the embankment, including the tracks, which will cost an estimated $8 million.

“Doing so will really provide protection for a whole lot of the community,” Hayworth said. “Highway 6 one of the few main arteries connecting Iowa City and provides our community access to the University of Iowa and the VA hospital.”

Harkin stands on railroad track with Coralville City Manager Kelly Hayworth and city councilman Mitch Gross

Harkin also toured the muddied premises of the Transportation Building, where the city used to house and maintain its buses. “These buildings really took a hit during the floods, because they are situated on Clear and Biscuit creeks,” Vicky Robrock, Coralville’s director of transportation, told Harkin.

“This is an unbelievable mess,” Harkin said while stepping through the mud to tour one of the buildings. “You’ve got to get out of here. It doesn’t look as if you can rebuild here, right?”

Coralville Assistant City Administrator Ellen Habel informed the senator that the building was more than 50-percent damaged.

“Parts of the buildings needed updating before the floods,” Robrock said. “Unfortunately FEMA will only provide funding to rebuild these buildings to their pre-flood state, not to rebuild elsewhere.”

Coralville Major Jim Fausett said officials are still looking for a place to rebuild. “In the meantime all we can do is wait for the insurance money, federal funding and make do with what have, so we can keep our buses running.”

“This is the time we need our buses running the most,” Robrock added. “Several community members who lost transportation during the floods have come to depend on city transportation.”

On the Republican side, former Gov. Mitt Romney leads with 36.2%, head and shoulders above Rudy Giuliani’s 13.1%, former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s 12.8%, former Sen. Fred Thompson’s 11.4%, and Sen. John McCain’s 6%.

The Hawkeye Poll’s methodology has been the subject of some controversy, but in an interview with Iowa Independent, Redlawsk defended himself against his critics.  New American Research Group polls from the beginning of the week show somewhat different results, but the candidate rankings in the two polls vary only slightly.  Consensus remains that Romney is the Iowa Republican frontrunner, and any of the top three Democrats could win the Democratic caucuses.

Another poll, released by the National Wildlife Federation, showed that 69% of Iowa hunters and fishermen believe global warming is occurring.  66% of that group also believe that conservation is at least as important as gun rights.

Tuesday night’s debate between the Democratic candidates in Philadelphia, PA, made for a relatively quiet week on the Democratic side in Iowa.  Obama visited Cedar Rapids Monday for a speech on Social Security and an appearance in front of young people for a forum sponsored by MTV News and MySpace.  In Washington, DC, Wednesday, Clinton announced her endorsement from AFSCME, a union often touted as influential in the Iowa Caucuses.  Thursday, Edwards announced his first major Iowa television ad buy of the 2008 campaign.  Obama and Clinton had announced new TV ads Sunday and Monday, respectively.  Most of the Democratic field did not return to Iowa until the end of the week.

On the Republican side, things quieted down after last week’s Republican Party fundraising dinner, where Huckabee received most of the buzz.  Romney was the only major candidate to appear in Iowa later in the week.  In Marshalltown, he was videotaped telling a crowd that “you probably don’t have a lot of immigrants legally” in Iowa.

Next week promises to be exciting, as the last major cattle-call of Democratic candidates in Iowa, the annual Jefferson Jackson fundraising dinner, happens over the weekend.  In the lead-up to the event, candidates will struggle to build crowds and show strength as the national press corps flies back into town.