KNIFF MCCULLA: Small businesses need help to preserve their roles in communities

Small businesses are “the backbone of America,” and Rep. Barb Kniff McCulla — a small business owner herself — deeply believes in helping those individuals as much as she can during the upcoming session of the Iowa Legislature, particularly when it comes to taxation.

The representative of House District 37 — which covers the southern portions of Jasper County, as well as parts of Mahaska County and Marion County — told Newton News that lawmakers need to make sure Iowa taxpayers can afford to have their local businesses. Which means taking a hard look at property tax.

“I’ve talked to some that even in their own homes their property taxes, when they’re living on a fixed income, if they keep going up they’re wondering, ‘Do we have to move out? Do we have to sell our home and rent and so forth?’ I’ve had that proposed to me,” Kniff McCulla said.

Rules and regulations that continually come down on small businesses are burdensome. Kniff McCulla said business owners are busy trying to run their business and don’t have time to be knowledgable about the next mandate being placed on them.

“If they’re fortunate enough to have a good accountant that fills them in, great. But if it doesn’t come until tax time, and then all of a sudden they say, ‘Well where did that come from?’ And it was something put through the legislation they weren’t aware of,” she said. “Just making sure clarity is above all.”

Keeping business owners involved while also making the process as transparent and understandable as possible would be ideal. Kniff McCulla said there are some old laws in the books from years and years ago that sometimes creep through and cause problems.

“Let’s remove that and just get rid of that law altogether and not have a law on that. I believe in less laws if we’re doing everything correctly. People are smart. They know what needs to be done,” Kniff McCulla said, clarifying she wants to preserve small businesses in Iowa. “…They’re Main Street America.”

Protecting and maintaining small businesses in Iowa is critical. Kniff McCulla said they are the ones that pay their taxes and are so generous to their schools and community. They’re the ones that open their checkbooks for donations. They’re the ones that employ the locals in town or neighboring towns.

“They’re like family, and they take care of each other,” she said. “It’s more than just having a storefront. There is much more behind that front of the building that you see there. There’s a lot more to it than just a flower shop or a candy store or a clothing store or a shoe store or a dental office.”

PARENT CHOICE IN IOWA EDUCATION

Kniff McCulla is a proponent of parental choice for schools. The newly elected representative commended Arizona and Florida for their choice models and said parents only want the best for their children. Perhaps, she added, a family would benefit more from a different type of school.

The opportunity for a choice is what Americans like, and Kniff McCulla said she doesn’t foresee there being “mass exits” from schools.

“There might be some moving around, but I just believe in parents, I truly do,” Kniff McCulla said. “And I think there’s opportunities for things to change here.”

School choice was a major issue this past legislative session, but no legislation was ever passed. Republican lawmakers have said the lack of votes from the Iowa House largely led to the bill’s failure. With a number of those individuals ousted in the primaries, Republicans are more confident it will pass in 2023.

Some school district officials have argued against school choice legislation, suggesting it takes tax money away from public schools and gives it to private institutions who have less oversight of their spending. Kniff McCulla said private schools have criteria they have to abide by as well.

“They actually have standards also that they follow,” she said. “So in my mind I don’t feel like that’s a huge concern to be all honest.”

Kniff McCulla expects there will be changes to the school choice bill proposed last session. If lawmakers take a look at other state’s choice models, she said Iowa could gather forth ideas to see what is working and what is not working. Kniff McCulla said the legislature wants to make the bill the best it can be.

“So we want to make sure we get it right,” she said. “…That’s not one of my committees right now so I don’t know how deep and how far that’s going to go or whatever or what it will all encompass or whatever. We’ll find out more when the session starts. I think it behooves us to take a look at other states.”

And also find out why the bill didn’t work in Iowa last year.

CONTINUED INCOME TAX REFORM

For the past few years, the Iowa Legislature has chipped away at income tax, but Kniff McCulla said that work needs to continue. Finding out what more could be done would be beneficial to Iowans. Right now, she said, the state is in a good downward trajectory with personal income tax rates.

“Any time we can give back to our small businesses and their employees — more of their hard-earned money — but also ensuring that the economic growth in Iowa is still moving forward, I think a lot of that has to do with putting more money in the hands of the taxpayers,” Kniff McCulla said.

If Iowa lets its citizens keep their money, they spend it, she added. Which then benefits the economy and provides growth.

“Same as a business, you gotta take money in to pay money out,” Kniff McCulla said. “So there has to be that balance there, too. Whatever that looks like.”

Will Iowa ever do away with personal income tax? Kniff McCulla agreed it would be nice. But until she gets to the statehouse and studies the budgets, it is going to be difficult to gauge if or when that could occur. Chipping away at income tax, too, may be one of the “fairest ways” to give money back to Iowans.

“Everybody pays into it so everybody kind of gets a piece or moneys back,” she said. “I think you encompass more people that way.”

Reducing the income tax could also attract more people to the state, more specifically a workforce. Kniff McCulla said the state needs to increase its workforce. Every small business she spoke to during the race were all short-handed. Even her own company is short on staff.

“You can’t grow because you can’t find anymore people unless you go and buy another company,” she said. “That’s about the only thing you can do. There just aren’t people out there. You can’t keep taking them from your competitors and then just paying up and then they go back. That’s sometimes what happens.”

Having a reduced income tax could be a draw the state needs.

“Which helps out all these businesses again,” she said. “It’s just like one big circle. One thing feeds the next, which feeds the next, which feeds the next.”

WHICH COMMITTEES DOES KNIFF MCCULLA SERVE?

For the 90th Iowa General Assembly — which convenes on Jan. 9, 2023 — Kniff McCulla will be a member of the commerce, economic growth, health and human services and ways and means committees.