Grassley questions Apple incentive plan, criticizes Iowa tax code

In a series of tweets on Thursday, State Representative Pat Grassley of New Hartford expressed concern about a plan that will provide almost $20 million in state incentives to tech giant Apple for a new data center in Waukee. He went on, however, to push for tax code reforms that would render such perks less necessary in the future.
           
Grassley, a Republican who represents Grundy County in Des Moines, wrote, “Not convinced today's announced incentives of $400k per job is good value for Iowa taxpayers. Key to (Governor Kim Reynolds’s) continued success of bringing high quality jobs to Iowa is tax reform, which should start with review of tax credits. This session zero Iowa House Democrats supported Republican efforts to reform in appropriations committee. Look forward to their support next time.”
           
Reynolds has come under intense scrutiny since the announcement, and detractors have labeled it a prime example of governments needlessly subsidizing large corporations in a desperate attempt to lure them to their states and municipalities. Between state and local tax credits, Apple will receive $213 million in incentives (including $194 million from the city of Waukee), the second largest package for a data center in American history.
           
But in a subsequent interview with The Grundy Register, Grassley placed blame at the feet of the legislature—and more specifically Democrats—for failing to act on tax reform, correctly noting that Iowa currently has the highest corporate tax rate in the nation—by a considerable margin—at 12 percent.
           
“We can do economic development better in the state of Iowa. I think this governor and the previous governor are doing a great job in promoting Iowa, but they’re working with the tools the legislature has given them,” he said. “The system we have is what we work with.” 
 
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