Taxpayers Last……

The “Taxpayers First Act” (HF45) that passed the House of Representatives would’ve saved taxpayers $500 million dollars over the next three years. Unfortunately, when the liberal Democrat Senate leadership got done with it, it was gutted almost beyond recognition.

Instead of saving you and me the $500 million we so greatly need, it now only saves a whopping $10 million over the next three years.

And instead of setting aside $327 million for tax relief, the liberal Democrat Senate version sets aside a whopping $0.

All of that waiting, all of that Gron-stalling and delay, was for nothing. The clear message that taxpayers sent back on November 2 was that Iowans wanted real representation, lower taxes, lower spending and less government.

So you and I, the Iowa economy and Iowa workers continue to foot the bill.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m all for saving money. But the $10 million dollar token the liberal leader of the senate forced down our throats is more of an insult than substantive savings.

Senate conservatives offered amendment after amendment to the liberal chokehold on taxpayers but to no avail.  It was a party line vote every time at 26-24.

But have no fear! The liberal Democrats did let us debate a bill about raccoon hunting!

(For those of you needing a refresher, the reason I say that they “let us debate” is because liberal Majority Leader, Mike Gronstal from Council Bluffs controls the Senate Calendar, the passage of legislation through committees, and decides if we should be allowed to vote on any particular legislation and ultimately determines the outcome of any potential legislation IF he decides to let it come to the floor.)

So for those of you who cast your vote on November 2, 2010, because you were mad that you couldn’t take your minor child raccoon hunting with you without them having a license, I’d like you to know that I voted FOR repealing that requirement.

You can now take your minor child raccoon hunting with you and they don’t need a license.  But they are not allowed to carry a firearm if they’re not licensed.

I’m glad we got that passed. Truly. We should’ve let parents take their children hunting without a license anyway, but I still believe that we have more important legislation to work on.

Excessive taxes come to mind.

Combining our state corporate tax rate of 12% with the federal rate of 35% and the Tax Foundation says that the Hawkeye State may have the highest levy in the developed world.

And according to the Wall Street Journal, workers “bear the cost of excessive corporate taxes. A 2009 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City examined three decades of data on business taxes and worker paychecks. The study found that “corporate taxes reduce wages and that the magnitude of the negative relationship between the taxes and the wages has increased over the past 30 years.”

Businesses in high tax states invest less, the study found, and this leads to lower productivity (think fewer jobs) and eventually lower average pay for workers.

This isn’t just hypothetical theory. This is state government stifling businesses that could and would be creating jobs if the tax and business climate were less oppressive.

It’s plain and simple math folks. It’s not sustainable unless we change the path we’re on.

This is why I expect we’ll start to see half-truths and attempts to claim public credit for easing restrictions and burdens on Iowa taxpayers to start coming out of the liberal leadership in the next few weeks. They know, as well as you and I do, that they have to start gaining the appearance of being business and taxpayer friendly if they want to hold on to the majority in the Iowa Senate in 2012.

But you and I know such efforts will be seen for what it really is: political grandstanding. If they cared about taxpayers, and if they cared about Iowa workers and the middle class, they wouldn’t have been so deceptive with their legislation and rhetoric for the last several years.

And if they had truly realized the “error of their ways,” they would’ve immediately reached across the aisle and united with conservatives to ease restrictions, ease the burdens and get us back on track sooner rather than later.

Taxpayers remain last on their agenda.

Sincerely,

Senator Kent Sorenson

The Economics of Stalling

The Economics of Stalling

Year after year, Iowa ranks as one of the least friendly states in the nation to conduct business in, according to the Small Business Survival Index.  While Iowa’s business climate seemed to improve in 2010, Iowa still ranked at the very low end of the list.  Only nine other states and the District of Columbia were found to have a worse business climate.

And while Iowa scores some points for having a low number of health insurance mandates (6th lowest), low crime rate (10th), low electric utility costs (11th), and low gas tax rate (18th), Iowa doesn’t fare so well when it comes to corporate income tax rates, corporate capital gains tax rates, and adjusted unemployment tax rates.

Iowa ranks 49th for corporate income tax rates and 49th for corporate capital gains tax rates.  Only the District of Columbia and the state of Pennsylvania have higher rates!

In figuring adjusted unemployment taxes, the index takes the maximum state tax rate and applies it to the state wage base and then takes that as a share of state average pay.  In this category, Iowa ranks 48th, beating out only Minnesota, Utah, and North Dakota.

The reason I bring up all this dismal data is to tell you again what I told you in my campaign – I won’t vote for new taxes, and I know that improving Iowa’s business climate is crucial to attracting and growing businesses in this state and putting Iowans back to work.

But one man in the senate won’t let us do that.

You see, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal has the power of controlling the committees that new legislation must go through. As such, he can either have a committee kill that legislation or bring it to the floor for a vote. There are a lot of good bills that have been introduced this session that are aimed directly at getting Iowa back on track.

But Gronstal stalls.

And he can do it, too. You know why? Because he decided right after the start of the legislative session that he’d change the 40 year old senate rules to remove the language that allows a senator like me to force legislation to the floor.

I bet you can imagine how I feel about that.

I call it tyranny, plain and simple.

Improving Iowa’s business climate is crucial to attracting and growing businesses in the state and putting Iowans back to work.  I remain dedicated to helping reform our tax structure and identifying and removing unnecessary government rules and regulations to improve Iowa’s business climate and begin putting Iowans back to work.

If Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal doesn’t like what you have to say, he can stop it dead in its tracks.

So stay tuned for further updates. Our jobs and our economy are at the top of the list in everyone’s minds right now, and I pledge to remain steadfast in my stance on these issues.

As I’ve said before, I’m honored to be your Senator.

Sincerely,

Senator Kent Sorenson

“Liberty Morning” fundraiser with Congressman Ron Paul

Please join us for what will sure to be an exciting event with Congressman Ron Paul of Texas who enjoys a national reputation as the premier advocate for liberty in politics today. Dr. Paul is the leading spokesman in Washington for limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency.

This will be a great opportunity to come and support Kent for his Senate Bid!

The Event itself will be a free will offering.

Host Committee Spots Available (includes private meeting with Congressman Paul)

Please Contact
Susan Geddes
515-202-3733

Please RSVP to sgeddes0@aol.com (sgeddes zero)

Date:         Saturday November 14th 2009

Time:        9:30am – 10:30am

Place:        Des Moines Airport Holiday Inn – 6111 Fleur Dr, Des Moines, IA

10% Across the Board Cuts

The Revenue Estimating Conference (REC) met last Wednesday to revise the revenue estimate for FY 2010 and set the revenue estimate for FY 2011. The REC is a panel of three people — Richard Oshlo (Governor’s appointee), Holly Lyons (Legislature’s appointee) and David Underwood (private sector representative, appointed by the other two members).

Recall a fiscal year runs from July 1st through June 30th and we are currently in FY2010.

The previous REC estimate for FY 2010 was $5.843 billion, or negative 1.4 percent compared to actual adjusted FY 2009.   The new estimate is $5.438 billion, or negative 8.4 percent compared to FY 09.   This is $415 million lower than the estimate used to create the FY 2010 budget.

As a result the Governor ordered a 10% across the board cut.   This cut applies to all General Fund expenditures regardless of need or priority.  The cut the Governor made is somewhat larger than was necessary in order to hedge against a further reduction in December and possibly provide some backfill next January.

Most Iowans will see the impact of this cut in their property tax bill.   Among other things, an across the board cut reduces the state funding for the K-12 education foundation formula.    This is the amount the state provides school districts on a per pupil basis.   As across the board cut does not reduce the amount of money a school district can spend.

If the state does not provide its statutory share, school districts have three options:    cut spending, use reserves or raise property taxes.   My expectation is cash reserves will be the first response.   However, realize these cash reserves will almost certainly be refilled using the cash reserve tax levy against property.

As a result of the Governor’s actions, Iowans could see their property taxes increase as much as $250 million dollars.

Last spring when this budget was passed we could see all this coming and nothing the REC said or did was a surprise.  Even with this information the current year’s spending was the largest in the history of Iowa.   We did not have to be in this position.

Additionally, the REC initial estimate for FY 2011 is $5.412 billion, or negative 0.4 percent compared to the new estimate for FY 2010.   Because of the promises that have been made, next year is again going to be a very difficult year.

The state has a severe spending problem and it needs to stop.   Programs and expenditures need to be reviewed for need and benefit to Iowa.  Those that fail the test or are at the bottom of the list need to be eliminated – not reduced by10%.

You may recall that during the 2009 legislative session, House Republicans offered over $330 million in cost-saving measures.   Nearly all were rejected.   Also rejected was a searchable budget database that would allow Iowans to see how the state is spending taxpayer dollars.   Targeted and meaningful budget efficiencies are more responsible than resorting to haphazard across the board cuts.

We cannot continue down the path we are on we need bold leadership from our elected officials.   The Governor should of called a special session  so we could better evaluate the cuts.   Every program the State has is not of equal importance.   So we should of prioritized the cuts accordingly.   Rest assured that my colleagues and I will address this when given the opportunity.

114,000 Iowans Are Jobless – 6.8% Of Population

August marks another month in a long list in which Iowa’s pool of unemployed individuals grew, despite claims from Governor Culver and legislative Democrats that summer construction projects, created by federal stimulus and “I-JOBS” dollars, would put people back to work.  In fact, Iowa’s unemployment rate increased during every month this summer.   On September 18, 2009, Iowa Workforce Development announced Iowa’s unemployment rate jumped to 6.8%, its highest level since July 1986.  The jobless rate in Iowa last month stood at 6.5% and this month last year it the rate was down more than 2 points at 4.2%.  Currently, over 114,000 Iowans are out of work, nearly 6,000 more than last month and 44,000 more than a year ago.  Iowa’s construction sector lost 900 jobs in August,  9,300 eliminated throughout the past year.  Iowa’s unemployment situation is a disturbing trend that has become the norm.     House Republicans remain committed to working with their colleagues to reform Iowa’s tax code to reduce the tax burden on individuals and businesses responsible for creating the jobs needed to reverse the current unemployment trend.

Kent Sorenson Announces Bid for the Iowa Senate

WINTERSET, IA – Kent Sorenson announced today his bid for the Iowa Senate in District 37. Sorenson is currently the State Representative in District 74, which is half of Senate District 37 and covers all of Warren and Madison Counties, along with two precincts in Dallas County.

Sorensen said today, “It is an honor to serve the people of Iowa and I believe I can be a better represent the people of Senate District 37 than the current senator. In the past two years I have listened to voters and worked to provide solutions to problems in state government. The majority party did not like the budget saving solutions offered for taxpayers and today we are in a budget crunch after passing the largest budget in Iowa history. We must work to reduce the over taxation, over regulation, and protect the freedoms of the people before the wants of government.”

Kent Sorenson and his wife Shawnee reside in Indianola with their six children. Kent is a small business owner, soccer coach, and past volunteer firefighter. Small businesses create over 60% of all new jobs in Iowa. In order for these businesses to grow government must cut, not increase, taxes and regulations. Education is of tremendous importance for the Sorenson family, growing up with parents as employees in the Indianola Community School system, Kent understands the best education for students is achieved with parental involvement.

Paul McKinley, Senate Republican Leader, said, “We need leaders like Kent Sorenson because Iowa cannot afford to continue to pursue the same big government agenda and policies advocated by liberal senators like Staci Appel. This race will truly offer a sharp contrast between two different directions for Iowa: If you want more government, more debt and zero action on creating jobs for Iowans – you may want to stick with the status quo.”

Sorenson continued, “It is my job to listen to the voter’s concerns. If you have questions for me all of my contact information is on my website at www.kentsorenson.com. I am here to work for you.”

Rep. Jodi Tymeson was also in attendance at the press conference to endorse Sorenson’s bid for the Iowa Senate.

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Paid for by Sorenson for Statehouse