(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds is proposing an end to state income taxes on pensions and retirement accounts — and lowering the state income tax to a single rate of just four percent within four years. “Flat and fair,” Reynolds said. The governor unveiled her plan last (Tuesday) night during the annual “Condition of the State” address to legislators. When fully implemented in 2026, Reynolds says a four percent flat tax would save an average Iowa family about 13-hundred dollars a year.

“Yes, we’ll have less to spend once a year at the Capitol,” Reynolds said, “but we’ll see it spent every single day on Main Streets, in grocery stores and at restaurants all across Iowa.” Reynolds proposes that retired farmers no longer be taxed on cash rent for their farmland AND she says Iowans who’ve earned stock in the company where they work should no longer be taxed when they sell shares.

“This will be a game changer that will incentivize employers to share ownership with their employees,” she said, “and send a message to the rest of the country: ‘Come, move to Iowa. Work here and become an owner in a company and grow your investment tax free.'” Democrats like House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst say tax cuts should be targeted to the middle class. “Flat taxes are notoriously beneficial to wealthy Americans and that would be true in Iowa as well,” Konfrst says. “I think it’s great that Iowans in the middle would get a $1300 reduction in their taxes, but we didn’t hear what’s going to happen to the folks at the top. They’re going to get a much more significant cut.”

Senate Democratic Leader Zach Wahls says some Iowans, like part-time workers, will wind up paying more in taxes under a four-percent flat tax. “When Republicans talk about cutting income taxes for millionaires and billionaires, that often results in a property tax increase on the backside,” Wahls says. Reynolds says bold action isn’t always government action and her tax plan lets Iowans decide where and how to spend more of their own money. “All of these tax cuts have one thing in common: they reward work,” she said. “Work to be done and a lifetime of work to be proud of and that’s never been more important as the country is facing an unprecedented worker shortage.”

Reynolds is also asking legislators to reduce the number of weeks Iowans may receive unemployment benefits, from the current 26 weeks down to 16 weeks. “There are so many reasons for the worker shortage, but we need to recognize that in some cases it’s because government has taken away the need or desire to work,” Reynold said. “The safety net has become a hammock.” House Democratic Leader Jennifer Konfrst says it will take more affordable child care and housing — and a welcoming state to solve the state’s workforce shortage.

Reynolds told lawmakers she will use federal pandemic relief money to provide one-time bonuses to law enforcement, correctional officers and teachers. Reynolds got her biggest burst of cheers, though, when she pledged the legislature would respond to parents raising complaints about books in schools that have sexual content. “We live in a free country with free expression, but there’s a difference between shouting vulgarities from a street corner and assigning them as classroom reading,” Reynolds said. “…Parents matter and we’re making sure that you stay in charge of your child’s education.”

Reynolds also unveiled a plan to let lower income parents get state money to cover private school tuition. Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Zach Wahls say public tax dollars shouldn’t be used for private schools and there’s already a process for reviewing objectionable school material. “The bigger problem that we have in our system is that we can’t get enough bus drivers to get kids in Davenport to school, class sizes in Mason City are getting bigger and there are going to be a lot of schools in Iowa in August that aren’t able to open because they don’t have enough teachers,” Wahls says, “and when that happens, thank Governor Reynolds.”

Republican legislative leaders say the governor has made reasonable proposals that will bring meaningful change. Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver of Ankeny says the Senate G-O-P might even propose a flat tax that’s lower than four percent. “We want to start the march to zero,” Whitver says. “A big part of that march to zero is getting to a flat rate.”

Ten other states currently have a flat tax. Iowa’s income tax is the 16th highest in the country according to the governor’s staff and a four percent flat tax would move Iowa’s tax rate into the fifth lowest spot.

(Radio Iowa) – The State of Iowa has agreed to pay nearly a million dollars to settle a lawsuit filed by an Iowa Department of Human Services social worker who says her complaints about a hostile work environment weren’t taken seriously. Jennifer Jackson says her female supervisor created a hostile work environment by making vulgar comments and grabbing the breasts of female employees. The State Appeal Board approved the settlement. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald, a member of the board, cast a frustrated yes.

“It’s something you’d think every second grader would know, how to behave, but we continually get these cases where we’re paying out a half million to a million dollars or more,” Fitzgerald says. “I just have this frustration that we’re not getting through to these employees.” State Auditor Rob Sand, another member of the board, voted no because the state isn’t seeking any kind of restitution from the supervisor at fault.

The Appeals Board approved a separate, 25-thousand dollar settlement with an employee who says two women in his Polk County District Court office inappropriately touched him and made repeated sexual comments.

(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst spoke out against the Democrat-led effort to pass the so-called voting rights bill by ending the Senate filibuster. Ernst, a Republican from Red Oak, says it was Democrat Speaker Nancy Pelosi who tried to steal an election in Iowa by considering overturning the election of Congresswoman Marianette Miller-Meeks. “In a blatant political power grab — the speaker of the House spent over 600-thousand dollars of taxpayer money in an attempt to unseat the duly elected Congresswoman Miller-Meeks,” Ernst says.

Ernst says Democrats have criticized Iowa’s new voting laws without looking at the facts. “Three-time since the new Iowa voter law was implemented — the state has seen record-high turnout for elections. Record high turnout. Huge voter participation,” Ernst says. Ernst says the president and other Democrats are not telling the truth.

“Plain and simple, Washington Democrats are gaslighting the American people,” according to Ernst. “There is not a voting crisis in this country — it is manufactured. Their push to blow up the Senate and take over elections isn’t about voter access, it’s about power.” Representative Miller-Meeks sat behind Ernst as she spoke on the Senate floor.

(Harlan, Iowa) – The Harlan Police Department, Tuesday, issued a report on arrests dating back to Dec. 23rd. Beginning with the most recent arrests:

• Hugo Gallegos Reyes, age 52, of Omaha, NE, was arrested following a traffic stop on January 1st. Gallegos Reyes was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with operating while intoxicated, failure to have a valid driver’s license, and speed.

There were three arrests on Christmas Day, in Harlan:

• Preston Max Russell, age 21, of Kirkman, was arrested following a traffic stop. Russell was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance, prohibited acts penalties, possession of drug paraphernalia and unlawful possession of prescription drugs.
• Sterling Svend Holley, age 28, of Murdock, NE and Phillip Keith May, age 32, of Early, TX, were both transported to the Shelby County Jail. Holley was charged with prohibited acts penalties, unlawful possession of prescription drugs, possession of drug paraphernalia and driving while suspended. May was charged with prohibited acts penalties and possession of a controlled substance.

Arrested Dec. 23rd, in Harlan, was:

• 32-year-old Keith Larenta Wilson, of Akron, OH, who was arrested following a call for service. Wiilson was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with public intoxication and interference with official acts.
• 36-year-old Nicholas James Nelson, of Omaha, NE, was arrested following a call for service. Nelson was transported to the Shelby County Jail where he was charged with possession of stolen property.
• and, 31-year-old Kaleigh Marie Turner, of Harlan, was arrested following a traffic stop. Turner was transported to the Shelby County Jail where she was charged with driving while barred, defective muffler, and no proof of insurance.