Tax Archives » Lynda Waddington

24Dec 2017 by Lynda Waddington

Trump-sponsored UN tour highlights American poverty

Gazette Column

A United Nations team investigating extreme poverty and human rights toured the U.S. and found cause for concern. “The United States is one of the world’s richest, most powerful and technologically innovative countries; but neither its wealth nor its power nor its technology is being harnessed to address the situation in which 40 million people continue to live in poverty,” Philip Alston, the UN’s lead on extreme poverty and human rights, wrote in a report published Dec. 15. Alston’s team, which was invited by the Trump administration to tour the country, traveled through California, Alabama, Georgia, Puerto Rico, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. and spoke with a wide variety of people, including government officials, local nonprofit leaders and those living in poverty. “My visit coincides with a dramatic change of direction…

03Dec 2017 by Lynda Waddington

Could have supported interest deduction cap

Gazette Column

One piece of the Trump administration and U.S. House Republican proposed federal tax overhaul I agreed with appears to have already fallen amid an onslaught of the lobbyist horde. The White House budget proposal called for a lowered cap on the home mortgage interest deduction. House Republicans agreed and included the lesser cap in their proposal alongside a requirement that the deduction be limited to primary residences. Members of the Senate were immediately confronted by real estate lobbyists, so the lowered cap, estimated to produce up to $300 billion in revenue during the next decade, is not part of the smaller chamber’s plan. Before any readers choke on their Saturday morning coffee, let me explain that I’m not completely against the mortgage interest deduction, or the type of behavior it’s intended…

07Aug 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Rethink sales tax holidays

Gazette Column

Sales tax holidays like the one happening in Iowa this weekend may sound nice, but they aren’t good public policy. And, yes, I can already hear groaning from the parents and grandparents reading that first sentence. Bear with me. For those who are unfamiliar, for the past 16 years, Iowa residents have been given two days in August to purchase various back-to-school items that cost under $100 without paying sales taxes. In addition, since 2000, the legislature has mandated that all retailers participate. Supporters of these holidays assert the incentive stimulates the economy by encouraging shoppers to purchase more of the goods included on the state’s tax-free list, even if some are impulse buys. But, research has time and again shown this to be false. The New York State Department…

31Jul 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Iowa nuns pledge to ‘mend gaps’

Gazette Column

PHILADELPHIA — Just when I had written off the idea of finding Iowans volunteering with one of the advocacy groups in town for the Democratic National Convention, a group of wagon-pulling nuns rolled up and offered a cup of lemonade. Needing to meet a deadline and in a hurry, I initially refused. The nuns persisted. They were sweet and kind, so I snapped a photo to post on Twitter with my thanks. But when I tried to post it, the only group with the “Nuns on the Bus” name I found was based in Ohio. “Is this organization out of Ohio?” I asked. “No,” a sister replied. “Is that where you’re from?” I explained that I was a member of the Iowa media in town for the convention. She smiled…

28Mar 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Time to end the Iowa K-12 funding shell game

Gazette Column

Iowans received a mixed message this month when state officials finally found middle ground on state K-12 education funding. To put the lesson in context, we have to look back at last year’s K-12 spending debacle and Gov. Terry Branstad’s veto of a portion of the legislature’s 2015 compromise deal. The veto came just before the July 4 holiday, announced via email from the governor’s office. The legislative deal — a 1.25 percent increase with an additional $55 million in one-time funding — had been forged during a hard, six-month slog. Branstad took exception to the one-time spending and chose to use his line-item veto authority to remove it from the budget. “Maintaining the fiscal health of Iowa over the long term is my top budgeting priority,” Branstad said then,…

17Jan 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Consider multi-generational county space

Gazette Column

Planning for a potential new public health building, Linn County has an opportunity to turn a good idea into a great one. If approved, the new facility would be located at 1019 Seventh St SE, the former Options site, and would probably require a levy, currently estimated at 6 cents per $1,000 evaluation. Area seniors, displaced and scattered since the 2008 flood claimed the Witwer Center, advocated Wednesday for the inclusion of a permanent centralized senior center. Since Cedar Rapids is the largest city in Iowa without such a hub and more than a third of all county residents are over the age of 50, the proposal and investment make sense. Supervisors also appear receptive to the idea, requesting more specific space needs as quickly as possible. Those who spoke…

11Jan 2016 by Lynda Waddington

Vilsack support of Branstad water quality proposal no surprise

Gazette Column

Tax exemptions should be on the table The urban and rural divide is alive and thriving. The response to an appearance this week by former Iowa governor and U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack at Gov. Terry Branstad’s news conference announcing a possible extension and expansion of a penny sales tax now funneled to school infrastructure proves it. Branstad’s proposal is to extend a one-cent sales tax earmarked for school infrastructure and set to expire in 2029. The plan would keep the tax in place for 20 additional years, through 2049. While schools would continue to earn proceeds from that tax to a certain cap point, about three-quarters of future growth would be funneled to conservation efforts that help reduce farm chemical runoff and, in turn, improve Iowa’s water quality. Some…

17Nov 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Property tax breaks on the backs of ballplayers?

Gazette Column

The squeeze is on, and it might be a home run. Or not. The petition placed online by Iowa City Girls Softball sounds the alarm. “The property tax reform passed by the state legislation in 2013 could cost Iowa City $37 million to $52 million in lost property tax revenue over the next decade,” the petition reads. “The City Council has charged our Parks & Recreation Department to come up with a cost recovery effort that will supplement this lost revenue. Currently, the Parks and Recreation Department is seeking approximately $25,000 a year from Iowa City Girls Softball. We need your support to tell the City Council and the Director of Parks & Recreation not to charge ICGS for our use of Napoleon Park. ICGS cannot operate a sustainable organization and be a revenue…

27Oct 2014 by Lynda Waddington

Think LOST stinks? Hold your nose, blame lawmakers.

Gazette Column

No one wants to pay more taxes, but sometimes it really is the best of the bad options. When Johnson County voters flip their ballots this November, they’ll be asked if they are willing to increase sales tax by a penny for each dollar spent. If your gut instinct is similar to mine, the pencil will immediately gravitate toward the “no” oval. Sales taxes are among the most regressive rate options for revenue generation. Because they are levied at a flat rate, and because spending as a share of income falls as income rises, sales taxes inevitably take a larger share of income from low- and middle-income families than they take from those in higher income brackets. In other words, all saved income is exempt, while all spent income is…