Governor Reynolds understands that the only way to protect homeowners is to limit local governments’ spending.
Governor Reynolds understands that the only way to protect homeowners is to limit local governments' spending.
I n 2026, the United States will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. At the heart of the American Revolution — and embedded in the principles articulated in the Declaration — is the sanctity of property rights. Matthew Spalding, a constitutional scholar and author of the recently released The Making of the American Mind: The Story of Our Declaration of Independence, concludes that, in many ways, the inalienable right to property was the first principle at issue in the American Revolution.
“When the British began levying the first direct taxes on America, the colonists immediately considered it an unjust seizure of their property,” Spalding wrote. The Patriot lawyer James Otis posed a similar question in 1763: “Now what liberty can there be, where property is taken away without consent?”
“As the Founders saw it, the right to property was not simply an economic concept and was much more than owning a bit of land. It was a first principle of liberty,” Spalding argued. Property is not limited to land or a home; it also includes financial assets.
The late Senator Barry Goldwater echoed this understanding, noting that an individual’s earnings are as much their property as their land or home. “Property and freedom are inseparable: to the extent government takes the one in the form of taxes, it intrudes on the other,” Goldwater wrote.
It is in this spirit and in response to the growing frustration from taxpayers across Iowa that Governor Kim Reynolds is proposing a comprehensive property tax reform measure. “The rate at which property taxes are rising is unacceptable, and Iowans expect legislation that delivers meaningful relief to be passed this year,” said Governor Reynolds last week. “Property taxes are rising faster than inflation, faster than paychecks, and faster than population growth. In fact, over the last two years, they’ve gone up more than 10%. And that’s not acceptable.”
The rise in property taxes is not just a recent problem. Over the past 20 years, property taxes in Iowa have increased by over 107 percent. In 2025, local governments collected $7 billion in property taxes for the first time in state history.
As Reynolds emphasized in her annual speech to the Iowa legislature, this is an issue that impacts Iowans in every community and income level, regardless of whether they are rural or urban. Property tax bills are growing faster than taxpayers’ ability to pay.
Government should not have an unlimited claim on the wealth of its citizens. Every dollar taken in taxes reduces a family’s or business’s ability to save, invest, or give. Property taxes function as a form of wealth tax, yet local governments often fail to recognize that a higher assessed value does not necessarily mean that taxpayers have additional cash on hand to pay a rising bill.
Iowa taxpayers need reforms that protect their property — land, homes, and income alike. This is why Reynolds is proposing to limit the root of the problem, local government spending: “So this year, we need to go after the real driver of the problem: Spending. Spending is what drives taxes — always has, always will. And the most reliable way to protect taxpayers is to limit the growth of government itself.”
She is right. To maintain a good fiscal position, the starting point for any sound tax policy discussion must be spending restraint. One reason why prior property tax reform measures failed to provide any substantial tax relief is that they did not address spending.
Reynolds is calling for a 2 percent cap on annual property tax increases based on local budgets. Debt service and school funding would be exempt under the proposal, as would new construction projects. A 2 percent property tax cap would begin to restrain the growth of property tax collections and force local governments to better control spending.
This modest growth cap would not cut budgets or eliminate services. It simply slows the growth of property tax collections to a responsible, predictable level that better aligns with taxpayers’ ability to pay as their incomes rise. In every other sector of the economy, slowing the growth of spending is considered prudent management; in government circles, however, it is all too often treated as unacceptable.
Property tax caps are not a radical idea. Progressive states such as Massachusetts and New York have adopted them. Both are high-tax states to begin with, but without their respective caps, taxpayers would be in far worse shape.
Iowa’s proposed property tax cap is just the centerpiece of a comprehensive property tax reform proposal that includes additional measures that will protect taxpayers. These include making property value reassessments every three years instead of two, shifting the burden of appeals from homeowners to assessors, and freezing property taxes for seniors with homes worth $350,000 or less.
Governor Reynolds and the Iowa legislature have an opportunity to make the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence especially meaningful by restoring balance between taxpayers and their local governments. By limiting local spending and thus taxation, Iowa can protect the property rights that are the very foundation of American liberty.