From Surplus To Deficit: Branstad And Reynolds' Sad Legacy

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A mere four years ago, Iowa’s budget sat at a healthy $927 million surplus. Fiscal Year 2013 saw the state in a very strong budgetary position.

Now? Fiscal Year 2017 is estimated to bottom out at a $130 million deficit.

So what happened? Well, it turns out that four years of huge property tax cuts for corporations does a number on how much revenue Iowa can bring in, and they clearly haven’t stimulated Iowa’s economy in the way Terry Branstad and Kim Reynolds promised.

House Democrats this week pointed to that deficit as further proof of the Republican administration’s fiscal mismanagement.

“First, the state budget deficit is largely the result of new corporate tax giveaways that have increased exponentially and now top $500 million annually,” Representative Chris Hall wrote in a memo. “Those giveaways have not produced the economic growth Republicans promised and, instead, have slowed the state’s economy. The Branstad-Reynolds administration has failed in its promise to create 200,000 jobs and raise family incomes by 25 percent.”

...https://iowastartingline.com/2017/03/31/surplus-deficit-branstad-reynolds-sad-legacy/