The state of Iowa does not have a Department of Government Efficiency, however, Iowa lawmakers began improving government efficiency through a state initiative known as “alignment” more than a year before the American public ever heard of a “DOGE” at the federal level. Common Sense Institute commission a report that evaluates Iowa’s 2023 government alignment. Specifically, it identifies the portion of the 2024 tax cuts attributable to the savings from alignment and uses dynamic modeling to forecast its economic impact on the state. That report, titled "Iowa’s D.O.G.E.: How state government alignment is retuning money back to Iowans and contributing to the state’s economy" can be found here.

By controlling the rate of growth in government, Iowa lawmakers increased state surpluses over the last five years even while cutting taxes and expanding total state spending. During a period when individual income taxes fell from a top marginal rate of 8.98% to a flat rate of 3.8% and the top corporate rate fell from 12% to 7.1%, total state spending rose by nearly 23%. Education and healthcare saw the greatest increases in spending. When revenue growth outpaces the growth in government, the state can increase its revenue and spending even as tax rates fall. State government alignment helped moderate government growth over the last 18 months, resulting in significant savings for the state budget relative to the counterfactual.

Chairman and Host Earl Wright welcomes Ben Murrey, Director of Policy and Research, to Common Sense Digest to discuss the report. The two discuss the origins of the program, the reduction in taxes for all Iowans, and how crucial services were maintained (and sometimes expanded), all while eliminating redundancies and cutting budget.

Thank you for listening to Common Sense Digest. Please rate, review, and subscribe on your favorite podcatcher. All of our podcasts can be found here.