(Radio Iowa) – The chairmen of House and Senate committees that oversee tax policy are proposing what they describe as a sustainable way to gradually eliminate Iowa’s individual income tax. The idea? Have the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System start managing the state’s more than three BILLION dollar Taxpayer Relief Fund. The profits earned from investing that money would be used to ratchet down the state income tax rate over time. Senate Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan Dawson is a Republican from Council Bluffs.”We’re doing something that everyday Iowans do for their retirement, everyday businesses here in the state do,” Dawson says. “We’re using the money, growing it for something bigger.”

House Ways and Means Committee chair Bobby Kaufmann is a Republican from Wilton. “If you look at what other states have done, not only is it one of the more innovative plans, I think it’s one of the most responsible in the entire country at getting Iowa to our long term goal of zero percent income tax,” Kaufmann says. Dawson says it ensures state government can meet its spending obligations even as the state reduces income tax revenue. “Ultimately it’s a responsible glide path to zero,” Dawson says, “as opposed to some massive sales tax increase or eliminating a bunch of (income tax) exemptions out there.”

Kaufmann says now’s the time for the public to weigh in on the idea. “As this is talked about at forums, as it’s disseminated amongst the press, I think you’re going to find a high appetite for Iowans to want to do that,” Kaufmann says. “They’ll communicate that to us and we’ll get this done as soon as we can.”

Both lawmakers, though, describe the proposal as a long-term plan and expect to prepare a bill this spring that would speed up already approved income tax cuts. They’re waiting on a March report on state tax revenue and may use SOME elements of the tax reduction plan Governor Reynolds introduced three weeks ago. The two lawmakers also plan to advance a proposed constitutional amendment that would require a two-thirds vote in the legislature to raise any state tax.