Governor Chet Culver today formally challenged Terry Branstad to lay out his plan for exactly how he would cut the state budget by 15 percent.
"Today I'm calling on Terry Branstad to tell all Iowans exactly what he means when he says he's going to cut the state budget by 15 percent," Culver said during a conference call with reporters today.
Branstad has yet to offer any specific plans for reducing the cost of state government by the $800 million required for a 15 percent cut. In recent days, Branstad has taken multiple positions on his own proposal and made muddled, vague attempts to explain how he would achieve 15 percent savings to state government. Last week he stated that a 15 percent cut to state government doesn't necessarily mean the budget will be lower.
"Terry Branstad knows better than to propose doing something that would dramatically impact services to the people of Iowa," Culver said "It's really reckless and irresponsible to make these promises, and worse than that, he's not telling us where those cuts would come from. Two weeks before the election, Iowa voters have the right to know."
Since Terry Branstad either can't or won't tell Iowans how his cut would impact them, here is a summary of how much his proposal would take from key areas:
* $500 million from education
* $82 million from Iowa's Regents universities, $24 million from community colleges, and $6.5 million from private college tuition grants, all making college more expensive
* $150 million from the Department of Human Services, putting our most vulnerable children and seniors at risk
* $70 million from public safety and corrections, jeopardizing the safety of our citizens
See a full breakdown of a 15 percent cut to each area of the state's budget here.
A key example of Branstad's hypocrisy: At the same time he's promising to cut the budget he is also promising to give more funding to Iowa's community colleges. "That's just not possible if he's going to cut the budget 15 percent," Culver said.
Even more glaringly hypocritical is Branstad's plan to corporate income tax and commercial property tax rates on the backs of Iowa taxpayers. Branstad's proposal to cut the corporate income tax in half would cost taxpayers $100 million, and cutting the commercial property tax rate by a third would cost $400 million.
"Branstad has said the state needs to pick up the tab for those cuts. It's important for him to explain why he's asking the taxpayers to pay $500 million more to cut the corporate income and commercial property tax rates," Culver said. "He's putting the taxpayers on the hook to pay for that lost revenue of $2.5 billion over five years. That's irresponsible. He's trying to have it both ways, and people are starting to see the real Terry Branstad."