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Iowaa Essay

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While Iowa’s top corporate income tax rate of 12% is the highest in the nation, the state did not always tax corporate income at such high levels. When corporate income collections began in 1934, the tax rate was a flat 2% at all levels of corporate income. As the state economy expanded, lawmakers gradually raised the flat rate, until all corporate income was taxed at 4% in 1965. Upon raising the corporate rate again in 1967, the state moved from a flat rate to a graduated rate, which maintained the bottom rate of 4% while adding brackets at 6% for income over $25,000 and 8% over $100,000 (Iowa Dept. of Revenue, 2016). Because most businesses earn over $100,000 in revenue during a given year, the average Iowa business saw their income tax …show more content…

The Iowa Department of Revenue offers numerous tax credits and incentives for companies to reduce their tax liability, including both nonrefundable tax credits (reductions of the liability), and refundable tax incentives (monetary refunds directly to the company). In 2012, the state recorded approximately $19.7 million in nonrefundable tax credits applied toward corporate liability, and refunded over $67.7 million in tax incentives (Gullickson, 2015). With a 2012 corporate tax collection of $426 million, the credits and incentives account for a corporate revenue loss of nearly 16% from the total liability (2012)1. As credits and incentives compile, corporations are allowed to defer their benefits to future years, and collect on their credits in years where they were not earned. As incentives are carried forward into future years, state revenue collections continue to decrease, causing budget shortfalls that force the legislature to consider funding cuts to valuable public programs.
Iowa has also drastically increased its reliance on revenue from corporate income taxes in recent years, which makes the aforementioned tax incentive refunds even more alarming. In the early 2000’s, the state was collecting between 2-3% of its total revenue from corporate income taxes (Census Bureau, 2001-2002) . As of 2013, 5.1% of state revenue was collected from corporate taxes, which is only slightly below the national average of 5.3% (2014)2. The increase

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