DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch) – U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra proposed freezing property taxes at a gubernatorial campaign meet-and-greet in Des Moines Friday as he told supporters about his vision for making Iowa more affordable.
The Republican from Hull told supporters at the Des Moines event early Friday about his role in crafting the “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill alongside Trump and Republican leaders. The tax cuts passed in the measure, like the increased estate tax exemptions and preserving tax credits for certain small businesses and research and development efforts, will help Iowa’s economy, Feenstra said.
Feenstra said important work has already been done in Congress to make the U.S. and Iowa economies more competitive, but added, “Here’s the deal: We need somebody to sell it,” as well as further Republicans’ goals in providing more opportunities for business to succeed at the state level.
As a fourth-generation Iowan who has worked with the Trump administration, Feenstra said he was the right person for the job.
Feenstra, considered a frontrunner for the Iowa GOP nomination, officially launched his campaign for governor in late October, following months of having an “exploratory” campaign that began shortly after Gov. Kim Reynolds announced that she would not run for reelection.
He held his campaign kick-off in Sioux Center earlier in November, and has said his campaign will focus on working with President Donald Trump to enact an “America First” agenda in Iowa while vowing to take the state to “new heights.”
If elected, Feenstra said Friday, his mission as governor would be to make Iowa “the most business- and ag-friendly state in the country,” improve the state’s education system, and lower costs for Iowans. He highlighted property taxes as a top concern, saying this will help Iowans deal with higher costs of living and incentivize more businesses to create jobs in the state.
“We’ve got to be the business state, we got to sell it,” Feenstra said. “We have to dramatically lower our property taxes, we’ve got to continue to reduce regulation. We got to cut property taxes, lower and freeze them.”
Reducing property tax costs has been a major goal for Iowa Republicans at the Statehouse for several years. Reynolds signed a law in 2023 aimed at limiting the growth of property tax costs, and in 2025, Republican legislative leaders introduced a new proposal, which ultimately did not make it to the governor’s desk, to change Iowa’s property tax system from a “rollback” to a “revenue-restricted” system in an effort to reduce costs.
Reynolds has stated multiple times that in 2026, her final legislative session as governor, she plans to introduce legislation on property taxes — though she has not said what her approach may be to lowering costs. The governor has held meetings with local government and community leaders throughout the state in recent months focused on the subject as she and her team plan to draft legislation.
Though many Iowans are in favor of lowering property taxes, local government officials and advocates say cuts could lead to reductions in the local government services residents rely on. At an event in Davenport Tuesday, Reynolds said Iowans will “have to be open to having your services maybe delivered differently,” the Quad-City Times reported.
“If you want everything to stay the same, then it’s probably going to be very hard to reduce your property tax burden,” Reynolds said, according to the Times. “Is there ways that we can provide centers of service? Is there a way … two or three or four counties (can) work together more collaboratively when it comes to EMS? Is there ways that we can utilize our hospitals in rural Iowa more efficiently than we are right now with public health services?”
When Feenstra was asked what impact cutting — or freezing — property taxes would have on government services, he said he believed there was a “new way” essential services can be delivered.
“Whether it be law enforcement, EMS, all these things — there’s a new way to do this,” Feenstra told reporters. “There’s a new way to do this, to be transparent on what property taxes look like, what’s being paid …” and what property tax rates could be frozen or lowered.
“I plan to create that vision, and make sure that gets done,” he said.
Feenstra did not share specific policy proposals or property tax changes he would enact as governor, but said he believed a property tax freeze could be implemented by starting with a specific group, like senior citizens. However, he said he believed lowering property taxes was important for all groups, pointing to property tax costs as a major consideration for small businesses seeking to start or stay in Iowa.
“It’s the number one cost when it comes to small business. Before you even turn on the lights, you’re paying property taxes,” Feenstra said. “So we’ve got to figure out a solution to lower them, to make sure that they can grow and stay successful and keep their doors open.”
He also said he would work to lower health care insurance premiums as governor.
“You (think) about the two biggest things, the two costliest things of small business and families — it’s usually health care, and it’s usually property tax, things that they got to pay,” Feenstra said.
The cost of rising health insurance premiums has been a major discussion in federal politics as one of the main drivers of the government shutdown that ended last week. Senate Democrats resisted passing a federal spending bill without the extension of Affordable Care Act enhanced tax credits set to expire at the end of 2025, but this goal was not met as seven Senate Democrats and one independent voted to approve the stopgap funding measure without ACA tax credit language.
While Senate Majority Leader John Thune agreed to hold a vote in December on a bill related to the ACA tax credits, House Speaker Mike Johnson has not agreed to do the same. If the tax credits are not extended, Democrats and health care advocates say premiums are expected to double for people receiving health coverage through Health Insurance Marketplaces.
Feenstra said, as a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, he has been looking at multiple proposals on lowering premium costs. Trump has said he would only support a measure to provide direct health care payments, while some Republicans, including U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn of Iowa, have said they would support a temporary extension of the enhanced ACA tax credits.
“We want to come out with a new plan that dramatically lowers premiums for families and for small businesses when it comes to health insurance, and that’s what hopefully we’ll roll out here very shortly,” Feenstra said. “… There’s some exciting proposals, again, how we can directly give money to the small business, or give directly money to the family, to lower that premium cost. So that’s what we’re looking at right now.”
The Des Moines meet-and-greet was one of the first stops on a statewide tour, with more events scheduled next week in Dubuque, Denison, Council Bluffs and Sioux City.
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