i wrote an email to joni ernst

Hi Joni,

On your campaign website, you say

“Holding to my commitment to fiscal responsibility, we have gone from a $900 million budget deficit, turning it around into a budget surplus of $1 billion dollars. This was achieved by limiting the size and scope of state government, reining in spending habits, and eliminating the practice of taking on more debt for ongoing projects.”

Could you please tell me what specific items were cut from the budget in order to achieve this $1.9 billion turnaround? Also, could tell me what time period you are talking about, and how much of the turnaround could be accounted for by increased revenues? Also, you say

“In fact, this past year, I helped pass the largest tax cut in the history of our state - returning over $4.4 billion in property tax relief to Iowa taxpayers over the next decade.”

So then I might assume that this will lead to an estimated reduction in state tax revenues, on average, of $400 million per year. Could you tell me what your plan is to make up for this shortfall - in other words, will you be finding revenue elsewhere or making further cuts, and, in either case, specifically, where?

thank you,