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Iowa’s high property taxes are a growing concern. The Tax Foundation examined the “effective tax rates on owner-occupied housing” across the United States. Iowa ranked 12th highest in the nation. At the heart of high property taxes is local government spending. Unless spending is controlled, any property tax relief will be limited. Iowa’s property tax system is complex, and more transparency is needed. Iowa should look to Utah’s Truth-in-Taxation law, which since 1985 has been controlling the growth of property taxes and providing transparency and accountability for taxpayers. Utah’s Truth-in-Taxation is the gold standard model for any property tax reform.

While the bills are expected to go nowhere, Iowa House and Senate Democrats have filed at least four bills that target or could adversely impact homeschooling students in the state according to Bill Gustoff, a lobbyist with Homeschool Iowa, an organization that protects the rights of homeschooling families in the state. In an update after week six of the session, Gustoff said he generally does not spotlight bills they oppose due to the current make-up of the Iowa Legislature. “We don’t bring attention to them. Because, frankly, a lot of them are bills that are dead on arrival. And it’s...

The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has taken initial steps to make a decision in a contested Iowa election, one involving Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Amy Hart, who lost to Miller-Meeks by six votes. Democrats have now begun to shift their focus to the race after Hart’s continuous claim that Miller-Meeks was improperly declared the winner, although multiple recounts have shown otherwise. As reported by Politico, the “House Administration Committee gathered virtually Friday afternoon to finalize the process by which it will adjudicate Hart’s claim, which was filed under the Federal Contested Elections Act.”

The mayor, police chief, city clerk and a former city clerk of a small Midwest town were all arrested for allegedly abusing their power — with crimes including stealing money, falsifying records and strong-arming civilians, officials said. In one instance, a resident in Armstrong, Iowa — population 840 — was attacked by one of the defendants with a stun gun to shake them down for money, authorities said. “Mayor Greg Buum, police chief Craig Merrill, city clerk Tracie Lang, and former city clerk Connie Thackery were charged with felony and misdemeanor offenses in a 21-count joint trial information approved by...

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds on Friday signed an order which rolled back COVID-19 restrictions, lifting the state's mask mandate and capacity limits in bars and restaurants. The conservative lawmaker 'strongly encouraged' residents with medical conditions and those over the age of 65 to limit activities outside of the home as she signed a new Public Health Disaster proclamation to ease existing public health measures from Sunday. As well as ending the requirement for masks in public spaces, the order lifts the capacity limit of 15 people for indoor gatherings and 30 people for outdoor gatherings across the state.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Gov. Kim Reynolds has eliminated most of her COVID-19 restrictions in the latest health proclamation. According to the Governor's Office, the proclamation removes indoor mask requirements in public spaces, gathering limits and restrictions on businesses starting 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 7. Advertisement "The proclamation strongly encourages Iowans, businesses and organizations to take reasonable public health measures consistent with guidance from the Iowa Department of Public Health," said Pat Garrett, a spokesperson for the Governor's Office. The proclamation states, "I strongly encourage that all businesses or other employers remain open with in-person operations take reasonable measures under...

Sen. Chuck Grassley on Friday called on the Justice Department to explain its decision to close an investigation into leaks of information about former national security adviser Michael Flynn with a finding of no wrongdoing on the part of Obama administration officials.The New York Times reported Tuesday that federal prosecutors quietly closed a criminal probe into the leak of information to The Washington Post in 2017 regarding Flynn’s phone calls in December 2016 with then-Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak.According to The Times, prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C. who were investigating the leak found “no wrongdoing” on the...

Day 321 Of The Dictatorship Of COVID-19, Day 321 Of America And The World Held Hostage Back in 1979 Americans taken hostage in Iran and ABC News coining the phrase "America Held Hostage" as illustrated in this first of many late night special reports... And here we are in 2021 the Dictatorship of COVID-19 and Americans held hostage like Gayle Meyer... Don McLean's "American Pie" was all over the radio back in 1972 and many phrases in that song including "The Day The Music Died". It will be 62 years ago this Wednesday "The Day The Music Died" February 3,...

Responding to frustration from Iowa parents, the Republican-dominated Legislature in Iowa passed a measure Thursday that would require all school districts in the state to reopen by no later than Feb. 15. Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), who made the legislation the top priority of the 2021 legislative session, promptly signed the bill, saying, "It's time to put local control into the hands of the parents where it belongs. So that they can choose what is best for their children." All Iowa schools have offered at least partial in-person learning since last summer, when Reynolds signed a proclamation mandating that school...

DES MOINES — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said Tuesday that she wants to require that all fuel sold in the state to contain either ethanol or biodiesel. Reynolds’ comments came at the Iowa Iowa Renewable Fuels virtual summit Tuesday where she proposed legislation mandating fuel sold in the state contain at least 10% ethanol and 11% biodiesel. “I am excited to advance policies that will grow the biofuels and ag industry,” Reynolds said. “As a leader in biofuels production, that means making biofuels the clear choice for Iowa drivers by implementing an E10 and B11 fuel standard at Iowa pumps.”...

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Iowa is one of 6 states which does not have a state constitutional provision protecting the right to keep and bear arms. A constitutional amendment has been working its way through the legislature for eight years.The amendment has passed its first hurdle in 2021, an Iowa House subcommittee, with a 2-1 margin.Amending the Iowa Constitution is a long and difficult process. The first step is for the legislature to pass the amendment. Second, an election must occur. Third, the legislature has to pass the amendment again. Fourth, the amendment must be passed in a referendum. The referendum is...

The right to keep and bear arms could get extra protection in the state of Iowa if a proposal to amend the state constitution passes and is placed before voters on the 2022 ballot.The proposed amendment is simple and clear, stating that “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” but adding that “any and all restrictions of this right shall be subject to strict scrutiny,” which is the highest level of judicial review. On Tuesday, the issue received its (first subcommittee hearing), and passed on a 2-1 vote." Republicans, who control both the...

Four years ago, our nation’s capital was full of people who had come to celebrate a new president’s inauguration or to protest it. This inauguration was different in that respect. But, just like four years ago, there are Americans who question the election outcome and did not want the inauguration to proceed. Since Election Day, I have urged Americans to have faith in our constitutional system and let it work its course. Today was the culmination of that process. Like four years ago, I know that many Americans are not happy with how it turned out. That is absolutely fine....

Iowa governor Kim Reynolds’s reluctance to embrace stringent coronavirus lockdown measures resulted in a case spike in November and guaranteed certain disaster over the holidays, according to an ominous story featured prominently on The Atlantic’s website in December. Titled “Iowa Is What Happens When Government Does Nothing,” the article, written by Iowa native Elaine Godfrey and published on December 3, attributed the brief statewide spike in cases and hospitalizations to Reynolds’s insistence on weighing economic factors when making decisions about COVID, and predicted that the state “can expect to see nothing less than a tsunami” over the upcoming holiday season.

Cindy Axne voted for the socialist Democrats’ woke rules package that includes banning gendered words like, “mother” and “father.” But—wait—look at Axne’s Twitter bio. She refers to herself as a “mother.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — In a room 12 stories above the emergency department where he has been caring for COVID-19 patients over the last nine months, David Conway, 39, Monday morning became the first person in Iowa to receive a vaccine for the novel coronavirus since its emergency authorization Friday. Conway, a University of Iowa Health Care emergency department nurse for four years, said he didn’t hesitate when asked if he’d be willing to get the vaccine on day one on the UI’s medical campus. “Of course I am,” Conway said, seconds before choosing his left arm and holding still...

Remember Jamie Raskin? The radical East Coast liberal that Cindy Axne gave her vote to? Well, he’s back. After voting on behalf of Iowa’s third congressional district while Cindy Axne was too busy to come to work, Raskin is apparently still hungry to insert himself in the business of Iowans. It was revealed recently that Raskin, a liberal Democrat from Maryland, is expected to be tapped to run point on the Nancy Pelosi-led House administration committee tasked with reviewing the results of Iowa’s second congressional race. Republican state senator Mariannette Miller-Meeks defeated Rita Hart. Hart requested a recount but still...

Apparently, President Trump refusing to concede defeat to Joe Biden and fighting the results in the courts and in the legislatures is an affront to our system of government. But when a major law firm with extensive ties to the Democrat party and which was a major player in bankrolling Christopher Steele in his production of the infamous and fake Steele Dossier and the dissemination of that fraud to a credulous American press corps steps in to try to take a lawfully won Congressional seat from a Republican candidate, well, that’s just fine. At issue are two very close House...

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Day 265 Of The Dictatorship Of COVID-19: Tyranny Came Before The Election Welcome to the weekend. This post title about "Game Over" in Venezuela once the late Hugo Chavez was elected President in 1998 the freedom of the country and its economy doomed to their eventual fate. We've experienced this tyranny before our 2020 election that is said to have elected Joe Biden as our President here in the USA. The COVID-19 tyranny first unleashed in March and then lessened for a bit back again. Big Government like colleges, universities, public schools being kept open and Big Business like chain...