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IowaPolitics.com: Five House Democrats opposed to deductibility change
4/1/2009

By Lynn Campbell
IowaPolitics.com

Four moderate House Democrats who voted against the prevailing wage bill confirmed to IowaPolitics today that they're also "no" votes on a bill that would eliminate federal deductibility. And a fifth Democrat, who voted for the prevailing wage bill, told a local paper last week that she would not vote to eliminate federal deductibility.

If all House Republicans vote against the bill, it would take six "no" votes by Democrats to derail it in the House.

NOTE: IowaPolitics.com subscribers received more on this story, including extended excerpts and audio links to each interview, in the PM Update sent Wednesday afternoon.

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State Reps. Geri Huser of Altoona, Doris Kelley of Waterloo, Brian Quirk of New Hampton and Dolores Mertz of Ottosen all said today in interviews with IowaPolitics.com that they plan to vote against the bill when it comes up for a vote on the House floor tomorrow. Despite their opposition, several of the Democrats said they still expected the bill to pass on Thursday.

A fifth Democratic representative, Elesha Gayman of Davenport, answered "no" in response to a survey from the River Cities' Reader asking Scott County legislators if they would vote to eliminate the deductibility of federal income-tax payments.

Gayman was in a committee meeting this afternoon and unavailable for comment.

Read below for excerpts from IowaPolitics.com interviews with the other four Democrats:

-- Huser: "I am not supportive of the bill in its current form. ... I think that there are a lot of issues that still need to be addressed. If we want to create an environment that brings employers and employees into the state of Iowa, we need to be sure it does that."

-- Kelley: "When you start looking at this and you look at those that are making between $10,000 and $20,000 and you get out to 2011 and you're seeing that a certain percent of them are paying more, I don't know that we can define middle class right now. ... I won't support something that I know is going to hurt people that are between $20,000 and $30,000."

-- Quirk: "In its current form, I'm not supportive of it. ... What I'm worried about is should the federal level change their tax rates, that those rates need to be reflected within our state structure, as well. The reductions need to occur correspondingly. ... I want to make sure that it's a dollar-for-dollar reduction in our state, as well."

-- Mertz: "I will be voting no on that bill. ...I've been a strong supporter of not getting rid of that (federal deductibility) ever since I've been here."


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