DES MOINES, Iowa – A new study shows a tax credit helping many low-income working families keep more of their earnings is proving to be especially important in rural areas and small towns across Iowa, and the country. Jon Bailey, rural public policy director at the Center for Rural Affairs, is the author of the just-released Earned Income Tax Credit and Rural Households study. He says the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is one of the most effective anti-poverty policy efforts the nation has produced.

“The Earned Income Tax Credit was used by more people in rural and small towns, and small city areas than in big urban areas in the country,” he says. Bailey adds the increased use of the tax credit tracks right along with the other economic indicators that point to many rural families still struggling financially.

Nationwide, the number of those who claim the credit is less than 19 percent in metropolitan areas, versus more than 21 percent in rural areas, small towns and small cities. Bailey predicts that divide will continue to widen.

“The gap between rural areas and urban areas has been growing,” he says. “So if that trend continues, I would suspect more people are going to need to use the Earned Income Tax Credit. It’s going to be even more important.” Bailey says the increasing importance of the EITC to working families should send a message to federal policy makers to strongly consider proposals to expand its reach, making more people eligible.

(Iowa News Service)

Icy road conditions contributed to an injury accident this (Tuesday) morning on Interstate 80, in Adair County. The Iowa State Patrol reports a 2007 Ford Ranger pickup driven by 37-year old Daniel Arredondo-Sarmiento, of Des Moines, was traveling westbound in the right lane of I-80, when the vehicle went out of control. The pickup left the road to the right and came to rest on its top in the north ditch. The accident happened at around 3:50-a.m.

A passenger in the pickup, 69-year old Reinaldo Arrendondo-Bonilla, of Des Moines, suffered minor injuries and was transported by Adair Rescue to the Adair County Memorial Hospital, in Greenfield.

The party leaders who control the Iowa House and Senate will remain the same in the new session in January. Republicans control the Iowa House and have voted to keep Representative Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha in the role of the Speaker of the House. Paulsen will be serving his seventh term. He is an attorney for a Cedar Rapids trucking company.

Representative Linda Upmeyer of Clear Lake was re-elected as the Republican House Majority Leader. She is a nurse who will also will be serving her seventh term. Democrats held onto their slim 26-24 margin in last week’s election to maintain control of the Iowa Senate. Senator Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs will continue as majority leader and Pam Jochum of Dubuque was re-elected Senate President.

Gronstal has been the Senate minority or majority leader since 2001, while Jochum will be in her second term as Senate president. The 2015 Legislature will convene in Des Moines on January 12th.

(Radio Iowa)