(Radio Iowa) – It’s clear property tax changes will be at the top of the agenda for the 2026 Iowa legislative session, but key lawmakers warn coming up with a proposal is complicated. Senate Republican Leader Mike Klimesh of Spillville says changing a 40-year-old system won’t be easy. “To an extent we squeeze a balloon,” Klimesh said, “….but at the end of the day we need to find a way that we can provide property tax relief to Iowans while maintaining the ability for local governments to provide services that continue to make those communities — especially small communities like Spillville — a great, attractive place to live, work and raise a family.”

Representative Gary Mohr of Bettendorf — the Republican who leads the House Appropriations Committee — says previous discussions about a variety of approaches to redesigning the property tax system were valuable. “What we learned last year is it’s a whack-a-mole game, which we didn’t all know,” Mohr said. “Meaning is you do this with property taxes, it has an affect over here that we didn’t think about.” The top Democrats in the House and Senate say the focus should be on reducing residential property tax rates for the people who need it most, including Iowans on fixed incomes. Senate Democratic Leader Janice Weiner of Iowa City says policymakers also need to consider the entire tax ecosystem, including incomes taxes and the state sales tax.

“We can’t just pick one piece and fix it without unraveling a thread that’s going to impact many people,” Weiner said. House Democratic Leader Brian Meyer of Des Moines says House Democrats will offer a proposal to redistribute state funding to local governments to make up for reductions in property taxes. “Where are we allocating money in the state budget? For example, the Iowa House Republicans plowed $23 million into a soccer stadium in Des Moines,” Meyer said. “…We don’t need a soccer stadium in Des Moines. We don’t need to be paying for it, but we’re going to look at some of these budget items that they’ve been doing and we’re going to say: ‘We don’t need that and we need to focus on property tax relief.'”

The lawmakers made their comments at a forum organized by the Greater Des Moines Chamber of Commerce. The organization represents chambers of commerce in a dozen central Iowa counties, including: Adair, Clarke, Dallas, Guthrie, Jasper, Madison, Mahaska, Marion, Marshall, Polk, Poweshiek and Warren.