Comment on Good news on Iowa’s finances renews calls for tax cuts

DES MOINES — Iowa’s state finances remain on steady ground despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and lawmakers should need no significant course corrections as they craft the next budget, according to projections issued Friday by the state’s budget estimating panel.Some statehouse Republicans used the good financial news to renew calls for state tax cuts.The three-member panel projected Iowa will have an $8.4 billion state budget in the fiscal year that begins July 1.That’s a slight increase from the $8.3 billion the panel had projected at its December meeting, and 3.8 percent growth over the current fiscal year despite the pandemic’s toll.The state panel, called the Revenue Estimating Conference, is comprised of one appointee each from the governor’s administration, the state’s nonpartisan fiscal and legal analysis agency, and the public.“(Iowa’s) economy has been remarkably resilient to the COVID-19-induced recession, largely because our primary industrial sectors are manufacturing, finance and insurance, and agriculture.