By Laura Olson, includes “Guidance issued Monday by the U.S. Treasury details a list of specific ways that states and local governments can use the money—and some ways they cannot, like using it to offset new tax cuts.”
Includes “… Republicans argue that taxpayer dollars should not be given to blue states to ‘bail them out’ for policies such as business shutdowns they say led to high unemployment and steep revenue declines, or for histories of budget mismanagement that left them less capable of handling the pandemic.”
Qs include “Why did you re-introduce the Balanced Budget Amendment? … How would a Balanced Budget Amendment function?” As include “As a taxpayer watchdog, I conduct congressional oversight to root out wasteful spending and as a senior member of the Senate Budget Committee, support budgetary tools to restore fiscal discipline. The federal budgeting system is broken.”
Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) reintroduced an amendment to the United States Constitution that would require the federal government to balance its budget each year.
Truth in Accounting has released the 11th edition of its Financial State of the States and it ranks Iowa’s financial condition the nation’s 10th best.
Many emergency COVID-19 stimulus plans are floating around Congress, all of which propose the disbursement of massive sums of taxpayer dollars. The final bill for another round of stimulus will likely be anywhere from hundreds of billions to several trillion dollars, an incredibly large expenditure even by Washington, D.C., standards.
The 2020 Financial State of the States report surveys the fiscal health of the 50 states prior to the coronavirus pandemic. This data is released today by Truth in Accounting (TIA), a think tank that analyzes government financial reporting.
I am pleased to report we loaded our U-Haul rental yesterday and I am on the road driving to our new home in Utah.
Pryce Boeye’s Hungry Hobo sandwich shops’ sales on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River have been booming since the state reopened dining rooms in mid-June, while those he owns in still-closed Illinois languish.
How large could the shortfall in state government general revenues be, amidst the coronavirus and related crises?
On Monday, Governor Reynolds expanded the list of businesses that must be shut down until the end of the month. These drastic and economically draining measures are not good enough for some. The mayor of Iowa City and Johnson County officials have repeatedly called for a shelter-in-place order.
Iowa governments took on nearly 5 percent more debt — almost $791 million — in the most recently completed fiscal year, a new report by State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald shows, accounting for the largest increase since 2011.
During this holiday season, Americans gather with friends and family to count our blessings. Blessed to live in the land of the free and home of the brave, we give thanks to the courageous sons and daughters who put their lives on the line to secure freedom and liberty from one generation to the next.
An organization that examines state and local taxes on income, sales, property and gas has deemed Iowa one of the least tax-friendly states in the nation.
The state of Iowa will end its 2019 fiscal year with a surplus of more than $289 million in its general fund, but Republican political leaders were cautious about discussing where the money might be spent.
Iowa is one of the few states in the country that has enough money to pay all of state government's bills, according to a new report from Truth in Accounting.
In 1240, an Englishman named Robert Grosseteste began a student loan business called St Frideswide's Chest. It was essentially a pawn shop where students used gold, silver, and textbooks as collateral for their tuition.
“… I realize this is a lengthy explanation but wanted you to understand that your input, the input of other taxpayers, and of local governments, is very important in helping the Legislature draft bills. Public entities should not make decisions in a vacuum, and it is important that you remain involved, not only with the state government, but with your local governments so that the board and council members, your neighbors and fellow taxpayers, will wisely spend your tax dollars to make the best decisions possible for your community.”
State auditor Rob Sand announced on January 22 that energy efficiency recommendations will be part of every audit his office produces of a municipal, county, or state government entity.
The study released Thursday by a consulting firm said the Iowa Public Employees' Retirement System's long-term unfunded liabilities will likely grow to $7 billion over the next five years, The Des Moines Register reported. The unfunded liabilities will then begin to gradually decline and fully disappear by 2046, according to the study's predictions.