Great news! As we know from our successful efforts over the past few months, there is broad, bipartisan support for increasing the state sales tax by 3/8 of a penny to fund the Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation Trust Fund.
But we were elated to see the Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll reveal that 56% of Iowans support raising the sales tax to fund water quality and outdoor recreation.
These days, it’s hard to find ANY issue a majority of people agree on. Funding the trust fund is a no-brainer for many Iowans.
Not only that, but 67% of Iowans under age 35 support this effort. Talk about looking toward the future!
There is still a lot of work to do. Since the fund was created in 2010, it has sat empty. Legislators and the governor just haven’t quite been able to come together to fund the trust. We conducted a poll in 2014 showing a whopping 73% of Iowans would support legislation that raised the sales tax to fund the trust, but did so in a way that did not add nor take away from the size of the state budget. This year, with broad tax reform being a priority of the Republican Senate and House, we think there is tremendous opportunity for legislators to include the sales tax increase in any final legislation.
When they do, our expanded coalition of farmers, hunters, business leaders, conservatives, Republican activists, conservationists and entrepreneurs will be solidly behind them.
It’s time to #FundTheTrust!
