Senate Journal: Page 2: Monday, January 13, 1997

  2 JOURNAL OF THE SENATE 1st Day
  Cutting taxes is only one way in which we can enhance Iowa's
  competitiveness. We
  must also review how government impacts Iowa businesses. One way state
  government can help create new jobs is to insure that government is not
  doing
  anything to keep Iowa's entrepreneurs from expanding. I want to lead a
  review which
  takes a long-term look at Iowa's business climate.
  It is important to stress that this review must be long-term. Everyone here
  today no
  doubt has an ambitious list of things they want to accomplish. But
  government gets in
  trouble when it tries to fix everything at the same time, instead of
  thoroughly
  reviewing every problem, and developing a long-term solution.
  We are lucky to belong to an institution, the Iowa Senate, which has such a
  wonderful history of consensus building and cooperation between those of
  differing
  parties and ideologies. You have my firm commitment to continue these
  outstanding
  traditions.
  Let me conclude by stressing that my door is always open to anyone and their
  ideas.
  I look forward to working with all of you to make our institution, our
  government, and
  our state a model for the nation and the world.

  REMARKS BY THE MINORITY LEADER

  Senator Gronstal addressed the Senate as follows:
  Thank you, Madame President
  Madame President ladies and gentlemen of the senate
  First of all I'd like to welcome and congratulate all of you that won in
  last fall's
  election. They were hard fought and challenging elections and each of us won
  the
  honor of trying to represent our districts and make Iowa a better place.
  To the new majority I sincerely wish you luck and I hope you recognize that
  we have
  left you with the largest budget surplus as a percent of total budget in the
  country.
  That surplus was created by the landmark budget reform law that the
  Democrats
  working with Republicans passed in 1992. That surplus paved the way for two
  of the
  biggest property tax cuts in the history of Iowa. That surplus has spurred
  the talk of
  more tax cuts this session and we share the belief that taxes are too high
  in Iowa but
  we also believe that taxes in Iowa are not fair. We will support efforts to
  create a
  lower, fairer tax burden for Iowa families. But we also believe its
  important to
  remember that the state's bank account was filled to overflowing by ordinary
  working
  Iowans with the sales tax -- and that is where tax cuts should be
  concentrated. A tax
  system where the top 1% pays at a rate one half of the bottom 20% is simply
  not fair
  and needs to be changed. We believe we should go back and make good on the
  deal we
  made in 1992 to fund the renters credit. There are many, many good ideas on
  how to
  make our taxes fairer. We could simply repeal the 5th cent of the sales tax
  or consider
  taking the sales tax off of residential energy bills. We hope you will be
  willing to listen
  and include our proposals.
  But taxes aren't the only issue we face this session. As Governor Branstad
  puts the
  final touches on his Condition of the state address to be delivered
  tomorrow, I hope
  that he will put partisan rhetoric aside and reach out to join our efforts
  to solve many
  of Iowa's problems in a bipartisan manner.

Iowa General Assembly

Index: Senate Journal (77th General Assembly: Session 1)

© 1997 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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