Iowa Senate Republican Co-President Jeff Lamberti of Ankeny has proposed eliminating state income tax for Iowans younger than 30 years of age. The reason for this tax break is to keep young college graduates from leaving the state upon graduating from college, thus ending, or at least slowing, the "brain drain" that Iowa is experiencing. According to the article in today's Des Moines Register, this would save the average 20-something (or younger) about $600 in state income taxes. Would an extra $600--that's $50 a month--really keep a young person from moving out of Iowa? I think that many of the young people who leave the state do so because of opportunities or more exciting things that they can do elsewhere.
I left the state when I graduated from UNI in 1997. I moved to the Houston area to be a high school math teacher. Had I not had a really horrible experience when I was there (that's a story for another time), I would probably still be teaching in Texas. An extra $600 a year certainly would not have kept me in Iowa. I did return to Iowa, but the reason was to be back closer to my family, not for any possible monetary incentive. In fact, now that I have been back in Iowa for almost six years, I keep thinking of leaving again. I don't need to see my family all the time, although it is nice to be able to see my close friends. The job that I interviewed for, and think I will get, is to be located in Iowa City, although the job could be located in Austin, Texas. Personally, I wouldn't mind moving back to Texas, but my girlfriend doesn't really think she would want to move there. She wouldn't mind living in Las Vegas however. Now if I could only find a job that I would want to do there and that I am qualified for--something besides teaching--I'd be all for it.
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