Western Iowa recovering from tax losses
February 20th, 2008The business communities in western Iowa are getting together to find ways to increase western Iowa tourism, especially as it relates to bars and restaurants as there is a predicted twenty percent drop once the Iowa legislature passes the proposed no smoking bill in those places. It is expected that the private clubs with take over most of the smokers business and those clubs are generally not a for profit business and therefore do not contribute to the tax base. The loss of revenue will affect western Iowa more than some other parts of the state as there is a lower density of population there. Although the population is less there are many of the same infrastructure costs as the denser areas and people are worried about having the money for the upkeep of roads and bridges in the area. Most of the bridges in the area are on county owned roads and are not paid for by the state. The businesses want a local rule law so that they can decide on a community by community basis what the overall outcome of a smoking ban would be and would be quickly able to reverse the rule if it had adverse effects on the tax revenue.
