State of Iowa Archives: on Corporations
Andy McGuire:
State loans for new or expanding small town businesses
I'll also look for new ways to help businesses through the creation of regional targeted loan funds that are tasked with encouraging economic development in towns smaller than 25,000 residents.
These funds can be used to help existing businesses that are looking to expand or new companies looking to open that can show economic viability.
Source: 2018 Iowa governor campaign website McGuireForGovernor.com
Jul 2, 2016
Art Small:
Set up research facilities instead of trying to pick winners
We ought to question whether the state should directly fund individual companies no matter how promising they may appear to be. It is difficult for the state not to play this investment development game because it seems to have become the established
practice for firms to get states to bid for such projects. All states “dangle dollars” today. Another approach that might be considered is that taken many years ago by North Carolina when it set up its Research Triangle Institute Park. It made no
attempt to pick winners. Rather, it made land and facilities available in close proximity to its three major universities and developed an administrative structure that encouraged cooperation between the universities and the Institute’s tenants.
Research Triangle Institute changed the economic face of North Carolina. Oakdale Research Park in Coralville has used a similar approach on a much smaller scale. Even that small-scale effort has been quite beneficial.
Source: Op-ed piece in Iowa City Press-Citizen
Mar 23, 2004
Bernie Sanders:
If Teddy Roosevelt saw modern banks he'd say "break them up"
Q [to Clinton]: Sen. Sanders recently said, "People should be suspect of candidates who receive large sums of money from Wall Street." You?CLINTON: You can look at what I did in the Senate. I've laid out a very aggressive plan to rein in Wall Street--
not just the big banks. We have to go after what is called the shadow banking industry. Those hedge funds. I want to look at the whole problem; my proposal is much more comprehensive than anything else that's been put forth.
Q: Sen. Sanders, you said
that the donations to Secretary Clinton are compromising. So what did you think of her answer?
SANDERS: Not good enough. Let's not be naive about it. Over her political career has Wall Street been the major campaign contributor to Hillary Clinton?
You know, maybe they're dumb and they don't know what they're going to get, but I don't think so. If Teddy Roosevelt, a good Republican, were alive today, you know what he'd say? "Break them up." Reestablish Glass-Steagall. And Teddy Roosevelt is right.
Source: 2015 CBS Democratic primary debate in Iowa
Nov 14, 2015
Bernie Sanders:
Wall Street will not be in my Cabinet; their model is fraud
Secy. CLINTON: If the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up.SANDERS: With all due respect to the secretary, Wall Street play by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. Let me
make this promise. Whether it's Republican administrations or Democratic administrations, we have seen Wall Street and Goldman Sachs dominate administrations. Here's my promise: Wall Street representatives will not be in my cabinet.
CLINTON: I represented Wall Street and I worked closely with New Yorkers after 9/11 to rebuild.
SANDERS: Many of us supported you in trying to rebuild that devastation. But at the end of the day,
Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, the major banks must be broken up.
Source: 2015 CBS Democratic primary debate in Iowa
Nov 14, 2015
Chris Dodd:
Bankruptcy Reform Act hurt working class families
DODD: [to Edwards]: Back in 2001 the congress passed I think one of the worst pieces of legislation of all time: the so called the Bankruptcy Reform Act. Senators Clinton, Biden, and Edwards voted for that bill, which drove a lot of people working class
families into poverty, & made it very difficult for them to manage their lives & to get back on their feet again. John, you made a big issue of poverty, something you have dedicated your life to. So could you explain to me why you’d vote for a piece of
legislation like that which did so much damage to so many families in our country? EDWARDS: Yeah, I was wrong. I was wrong and you were right Chris. I should not have voted for that bankruptcy bill. It was a bad, bad piece of legislation.
I think any of us who voted for it were wrong to have voted for it. I think there were some good provisions in it but I think on the whole when you look it at it actually did damage to low income families and working families in this country.
Source: 2007 Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum
Dec 1, 2007
Fred Hubbell:
Stop giving unproductive tax credits to big corporations
The best approach to creating jobs and spurring economic activity is to invest in our local communities and grow them from the ground up. For too long the legislature has created special tax giveaways for big
corporations that don't create enough jobs and don't help get incomes rising. That money should be used to grow local Iowa businesses--including expansion of broadband internet access across the state.
Source: 2018 Iowa Gubernatorial campaign website, FredHubbell.com
Jun 26, 2018
Fred Hubbell:
Opposes corporate subsidies to big companies to create jobs
Taxes: Support IA's recent $2 billion tax cuts?Hubbell: No. Opposes major cuts to revenue streams. Considers fiscally irresponsible, and similarly opposed Trump tax cuts as regressive.
Also opposes corporate subsidies like giving Apple $20 million credit to create 50 jobs.
Reynolds: Yes. Believes they provide important relief to middle and working class individuals and small businesses.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Iowa Governor race
Nov 1, 2018
Herman Cain:
Take the capital gains tax rate & repatriation tax to zero
Q: What one specific thing would President Cain do first to restart the economic engine? A: Make the tax rates permanent. The business sector is the economic engine. You have the group that's talking about spending.
You have the group that's talking about cutting. I represent growth. And it starts with the business sector putting fuel in the engine.
In addition to that one thing that you asked me to identify, we must have a maximum tax rate for corporations and individuals of
25%, take the capital gains tax rate to zero, take the tax on repatriated profits to zero, make them permanent, and--and then certainty back into this economy. And I believe we can turn it around.
Source: Iowa Straw Poll 2011 GOP debate in Ames Iowa
Aug 11, 2011
Herman Cain:
Suspend taxes on repatriated profits, permanently
Q: You say that we can boost job creation by eliminating the tax on companies that bring back overseas profits to the US. But when we tried a tax break like this in 2004, companies didn't create jobs. They just paid bigger dividends to their shareholders
CAIN: You're only looking at a small piece of it. It is a combination of things that I indicated. If you just pick out one thing and try just to do that, no, that is not comprehensive. I talked about lowering the top corporate and personal tax rays to
25%, also taking capital gains rates to zero as well as suspending taxes on the repatriated profits. And here's the big one, make them permanent. Uncertainty is what is killing this company. Now if a company were to decide that they want to take some of
that money and pay a bigger dividend, so what, it is their money. So I'm not concerned about what they will do with that money if it is allowed to come back. I'm more concerned, bring it back so they will have an incentive to make some growth decisions.
Source: Iowa Straw Poll 2011 GOP debate in Ames Iowa
Aug 11, 2011
Hillary Clinton:
AIG & Lehman were not big banks; we needed to bail them out
O'MALLEY: Our economy was wrecked by the big banks of Wall Street. And Secretary Clinton, when you put out your proposal on Wall Street, it was greeted by many as "Weak tea". It is weak tea. It is not what the people expect of our country.
We expect that our president will protect the main street economy from excesses on Wall Street. And that's why Bernie's right. We need to reinstate a modern version of Glass-Steagall and we should have done it already. CLINTON:
For me, it is looking at what works and what we need to do to try to move past what happened in '08. And AIG was not a big bank. It had to be bailed out and it nearly destroyed us. Lehman Brothers was not a big bank. It was an investment bank. And its
bankruptcy and its failure nearly destroyed us. So I've said, if the big banks don't play by the rules, I will break them up. And I will also go after executives who are responsible for the decisions that have such bad consequences for our country.
Source: 2015 CBS Democratic primary debate in Iowa
Nov 14, 2015
Howard Dean:
Regulation of finance companies is the right track
Q: Do you agree with the idea of cracking down on the credit card companies? A: I do. I don't know there's a lot I could do to improve it, except to say this: that in corporate America today, Bush has turned a blind eye to morality. We have lost our
moral compass in this country because what business is doing to ordinary people in America. Bush has run this country for the benefit of corporations. Regulation of those finance companies that you're talking about is exactly the right track.
Source: Iowa Brown and Black Presidential Forum
Jan 11, 2004
Jack Hatch:
Focus on small business, not tax incentives to corporations
Branstad said he wanted to come up with a plan for repairing crumbling bridges and roads that didn't include raising the gas tax, which he said would hurt poor Iowans. Branstad also spoke about his efforts to maintain the amount of
ethanol in the nation's fuel supply, given Iowa's role as the nation's leading producer of ethanol, a fuel additive primarily made from corn.
Hatch questioned tax cuts the state gave to a fertilizer plant that located in southeast Iowa, asking "why are we giving these kinds of incentives to corporations, instead of looking where job growth really is, it's in the small towns, it's in the
small businesses."
Branstad argued that the deal created jobs for state residents. He also attacked the fiscal policies of the previous Democratic governor, seeking to tie Hatch to a leader that he said didn't balance the books.
Source: A.P. on Omaha.com on 2014 Iowa governor race
Aug 15, 2014
John Edwards:
I was wrong to vote for Bankruptcy Reform Act
DODD: [to Edwards]: Back in 2001 the congress passed I think one of the worst pieces of legislation of all time: the so called the Bankruptcy Reform Act. Senators Clinton, Biden, and Edwards voted for that bill, which drove a lot of people working class
families into poverty, & made it very difficult for them to manage their lives & to get back on their feet again. John, you made a big issue of poverty, something you have dedicated your life to. So could you explain to me why you'd vote for a piece of
legislation like that which did so much damage to so many families in our country? EDWARDS: Yeah, I was wrong. I was wrong and you were right Chris. I should not have voted for that bankruptcy bill. It was a bad, bad piece of legislation.
I think any of us who voted for it were wrong to have voted for it. I think there were some good provisions in it but I think on the whole when you look it at it actually did damage to low income families and working families in this country.
Source: 2007 Iowa Brown & Black Presidential Forum
Dec 1, 2007
Jon Huntsman:
EPA's regulatory reign of terror prevents building in USA
Q: You said that you helped create thousands of jobs via the Huntsman Corporation. But of the 12,000 workers employed by the company, almost 10,000 were hired in China and India and other places outside the US. Isn't it accurate to say that you've got
more experience creating jobs overseas?A: Huntsman Corp. is a wonderful example of a family entrepreneurial success story: created jobs; left communities a whole lot better than they found them; created a wonderful Huntsman Cancer Institute.
But let me tell you the real problem of what we're up against. If you want to build a facility in the US, you can't because of the EPA's regulatory reign of terror. We don't make things anymore in this country. We need to start making things in this
country. And in order to do that, we need serious regulatory reform, [including] ending the EPA's regulatory reign of terror. We need to create a more competitive environment that allows our businesses to expand our economic base and create jobs.
Source: Iowa Straw Poll 2011 GOP debate in Ames Iowa
Aug 11, 2011
Joni Ernst:
Eliminate rules which inhibit strong free-market economy
Question topic: Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind's natural self interest into the fairest and most productive economic system there is, and are the key to national prosperity.
Ernst: Strongly Agree.
Question topic: Briefly list political or legislative issues of most concern to you.
Ernst: Economy- We must eliminate rules and regulations which inhibit a strong free-market economy, and get spending under control.
Source: Faith2Action iVoterGuide on 2014 Iowa Senate race
Sep 30, 2014
Joni Ernst:
Prevent financial consumers from joining class action suits
Q: Tighten or loosen regulation of banks and credit card companies?Joni Ernst - Loosen. Voted to prevent financial consumers from joining class action suits. Increase congressional control of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Theresa Greenfield: No position found.
Source: CampusElect on 2020 Iowa Senate race
Oct 10, 2020
Kim Reynolds:
Tax breaks bring Apple to Iowa
Iowa approved a deal to give Apple $208 million in tax breaks to build two data storage centers near Des Moines and to create at least 50 jobs. Reynolds defended the use of the state's $19.6 million in tax credits at a time of
a state budget shortfall, saying it's a minimal investment for the return Iowa will get. "If we want to grow this economy and provide more revenue, then we should be doing what we can to bring jobs and businesses to the state of Iowa," she said.
Source: MyPlainview.com on 2018 Iowa gubernatorial race
Aug 28, 2017
Kim Reynolds:
$2B tax cuts provide relief to taxpayers & small businesses
Taxes: Support IA's recent $2 billion tax cuts?Hubbell: No. Opposes major cuts to revenue streams. Considers fiscally irresponsible, and similarly opposed Trump tax cuts as regressive.
Also opposes corporate subsidies like giving Apple $20 million credit to create 50 jobs.
Reynolds: Yes. Believes they provide important relief to middle and working class individuals and small businesses.
Source: 2018 CampusElect.org Issue Guide on Iowa Governor race
Nov 1, 2018
Martin O`Malley:
It's crony capitalism to bail out banks for bad bets
Q [to Sen. Sanders]: Secy. Clinton says she will break up Wall Street that don't play by the rules.SANDERS: Wall Street play by the rules? Who are we kidding? The business model of Wall Street is fraud. That's what it is. Wall Street representatives
will not be in my cabinet. Wall Street today has enormous economic and political power. Their business model is greed and fraud. And for the sake of our economy, the major banks must be broken up.
O'MALLEY: There is not a serious economist who would disagree that the six big banks of Wall Street have taken on so much power and that all of us are still on the hook to bail them out on their bad bets.
That's not capitalism: that's crony capitalism. That's a wonderful business model. If you place bad bets, the taxpayers bail you out. But if you place good ones, you pocket it.
Source: 2015 CBS Democratic primary debate in Iowa
Nov 14, 2015
Michael Franken:
S&L "debacle" cost his parents much of their life savings
What turned him on to the Democratic Party was the savings and loan "debacle" of the 1980s. He blames the late
Ronald Reagan's policies for his parents' loss of savings, in which they received only 19 cents on the dollar for everything they had put away. His parents had worked in a machine shop into their 70s and refused financial assistance from their children.
Source: Marion County Tribune on 2020 Iowa Senate race
Apr 7, 2020
Nate Boulton:
Tax credits & corporate giveaways have hurt economy
We need a long term plan to grow Iowa's economy for the next generation. The Branstad-Reynolds administration has lowered Iowa from an economy driven by a reliable and productive workforce into a coupon economy: using short-term planning and attracting
low-paying, low-skilled jobs by being the lowest bidder. Nate will reevaluate the $600 million (and growing) in tax credits and giveaways that have ruined our state's budget and actually hurt our economy for the long term.
Source: 2018 Iowa gubernatorial campaign website BoultonForIowa.com
Jul 17, 2017
Patty Judge:
Our corporate tax code is broken; MNCs don't pay fair share
Q: What changes would you propose in the federal tax policies? And how would they impact the goal of balancing the federal budget?Patty Judge:
Our tax code is broken and encourages companies to offshore profits and jobs. We need a tax code that puts working families first and ensures multinational corporations pay their fair share, which will also help balance the federal budget.
Source: Vote411.org League of Women Voters on 2016 Iowa Senate Race
Sep 19, 2016
Rick Santorum:
Cut corporate tax rate to zero & jobs will come back
Q: [to Pawlenty]: You say your economic plan with tax cuts and spending caps would grow the economy by an average rate of 5% a year for 10 years. With the last two quarters averaging less than 1% growth--is your proposal just pie in the sky?PAWLENTY:
Well, the US needs a growth target, and it needs to be an aggressive and bold growth target.
Q: Gov. Pawlenty says America can quickly grow 5% a year. Is he right?
SANTORUM: America has unbounded potential. And
I think putting a limit on that potential, we've grown at faster rates than that. When I grew up, 21% worked in manufacturing. It is now 9%. If you want to know where the middle of America went, it went to China, it went to Malaysia, it went to Indonesia
We need to bring it back. I put together a four-point plan to do it. The big thing I proposed is to take the corporate rate which makes us uncompetitive, particularly in exporting goods, take the corporate rate and cut it to zero for manufacturers.
Source: Iowa Straw Poll 2011 GOP debate in Ames Iowa
Aug 11, 2011
Rick Santorum:
Pro-worker Republican; only 10% of Americans own businesses
Rick Santorum described his remarks at the Iowa Freedom Summit as not a stump speech but "a serious talk to serious people" in which the winner of the 2012 Iowa caucuses called on Republicans to re-imagine their party as the party of the working
class. "We need to be the party of the worker," Santorum said. "What percentage of American workers own their own business? Less than 10.
So when we go out, as we have for years, and we talk about entrepreneurs and businesses, we're talking to 10 percent of the public. And then we wonder why we don't win!"
Santorum received huge applause for decrying the Common Core and touting his last go-around in Iowa. But when he called on his party to become "pro-worker," response ranged from reluctant applause to silence.
Source: Des Moines Register on 2015 Iowa Freedom Summit
Jan 24, 2015
Sam Clovis:
End corporate welfare subsidies & crony capitalism grants
Congress needs to have the discipline to examine and then eliminate at least 50% of the grants and subsidies that comprise unnecessary and damaging market interference.
There are over 2000 subsidies and 1000 grant programs that cost American taxpayers some $1.5 Trillion a year. Imagine the effects of allowing markets to work as they should.
This corporate welfare, crony capitalism and unjust redistribution of tax dollars should be halted and is the primary responsibility of the Congress.
As a senator, I will wage a tireless battle against these programs that reward special interests and punish the American people.
Source: 2014 Senate campaign website, Iowans4SamClovis.com, "Issues"
Nov 11, 2013
Ted Cruz:
Get senseless obstacles from Washington out of the way
Senator Cruz promised to champion jobs and economic opportunity and get "senseless obstacles from Washington out of the way." He called for repealing President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and abolishing the
Internal Revenue Service, joking he would enforce security on the nation's southern border by sending all 110,000 IRS employees there.
Source: Des Moines Register on 2015 Iowa Freedom Summit
Jan 24, 2015
Terry Branstad:
Reduce state corporate income tax from 12% to 6%
This budget make it clear that Iowa is ready for job creation. We all know that small businesses are the engines of our growth. Yet, our small businesses pay an income tax rate that is highest in the nation at 12%. And our small business pay commercial p
Source: 2011 Iowa State of the State Address
Jan 27, 2011
Terry Branstad:
High commercial property taxes mean higher prices
The inability of Senate Democrats to address commercial property taxes means Iowa will continue to have the 2nd highest commercial property taxes in the nation. It will mean residential taxpayers in this state will see historic increases in their
property taxes over the next five years as record prices for commodities will trigger a roll up in residential property taxes. I will not let this issue be pushed aside and will take steps to bring it to the Legislature's attention in the future.
Source: 2011 Iowa Gubernatorial press release
Jun 30, 2011
Theresa Greenfield:
Tax cut benefitted wealthiest, biggest corporations
Senator Joni Ernst: The 2017 tax cuts and jobs act gave tax relief to 1 million Iowans. I certainly don't want to see that rolled back. But Biden as well as Greenfield, they have both stated that they would roll back those tax cuts,
which did provide relief to Iowans, allowed businesses to give employees additional benefits and wage increases.
Greenfield: I think the fact that the President only paid $750 in 2016, 2017 just really reflects how the system doesn't work for hardworking people and everyday Iowans and that the wealthiest and the biggest corporations get the biggest benefits.
Ernst's tax bill increased our tax bill by $2 trillion and it gave those benefits to the largest corporations. And then it's going on to threaten Social Security, Medicare, and our health care system.
Source: Iowa Public Television transcript of 2020 Iowa Senate debate
Sep 28, 2020
Tom Fiegen:
Banks that are too big to fail are too big to exist
Bernie Sanders is absolutely right, too big to fail is too big to exist! We need to break up the big banks and bring back Glass Steagall. As a US Senator, I look forward to working with President Sanders's to re-enact Glass Steagall and break up the big
banks.It is time to break up the largest financial institutions in the country. The six largest financial institutions in this country today hold assets equal to about 60% of the nation's gross domestic product. These six banks issue more than 2/3 of
all credit cards and over 35% of all mortgages.
We must break up too-big-to-fail financial institutions. Those institutions received a $700 billion bailout from the US taxpayer, and more than $16 trillion in virtually zero-interest loans from the
Federal Reserve. Despite that, financial institutions made over $152 billion in profit in 2014--the most profitable year on record, and three of the four largest financial institutions are 80% bigger today than they were before we bailed them out. ?
Source: 2016 Iowa Senate campaign website, FiegenForUSSenate.com
Oct 9, 2015
Tom Fiegen:
Disallow corporate tax havens; tax income when earned
I want to end the practice of Congress of selling tax breaks in return for political contributions. If I could single out just one, it is the provision that allows
U.S. corporations to earn income abroad and not pay tax on that profit until they bring it back into this country. The estimate was at the start of 2015 that there was over $3 trillion in
US corporate profits stashed in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. If that income had been taxed when earned, like domestically earned profits, the
Federal government would end the 2015 fiscal year with a $400 billion surplus, instead of a $600 billion deficit.
Source: 2016 Iowa Senate campaign website, FiegenForUSSenate.com
Oct 9, 2015
Tom Steyer:
Can beat Trump on economy, did not inherit a penny
Donald Trump is going to run on the economy. I started a business by myself in one room. I didn't inherit a penny from my parents. I spent 30 years building that business into a multi-billion-dollar international business.
Then I walked away from it and took the giving pledge. But whoever is going to beat Mr. Trump is going to have to beat him on the economy. I have the experience and the expertise to show that he's a fake there and a fraud.
Source: 7th Democrat primary debate, on eve of Iowa caucus
Jan 14, 2020
Page last updated: Feb 18, 2023