New Iowa Bill To Wipe Sales Tax On One Specific Item Advances

Less tax? Yes please.

The Iowa House voted on Wednesday to advance a bill that would remove sales tax from something we all get at the grocery store.

According to KCCI, it passed 82-11 in the Iowa House and will now move to the Senate. If it's signed into law, it goes into effect on July 1st.

If the bill passes, you won't have to pay sales tax on toilet paper in Iowa.

A fiscal analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency says that the move would cost Iowa about $6 million in "estimated general fund receipts" in the fiscal year starting July 1st, 2025. That could grow to $6.5 million by 2030, the analysis finds.

LSA estimated that the local option sales tax revenues that the local governments get and the 1-cent sales tax that goes to Iowa schools would decrease by $1 million per year.

But...we, the ones buying the toilet paper, would save a total of $9.1 million annually by 2030.

Obviously, there were puns on puns made in the legislation about this bill. Rep. Christian Hermanson (R, Mason City) said it could “wipe away the stain of sales tax”. Rep. Aime Wichtendahl (D, Hiawatha) said “time that we flush away this sales tax on toilet paper".

Toilet paper isn't the only household necessity that might get sales tax removed. Several other bills call for the removal of sales tax from tampons, soap, and laundry detergent.

On Wednesday, the House also passed a bill that removes the sales tax from vitamins and minerals.