Iowa's Dizzying Array of Tax Credits

In a recent post, I talked about 3 tax credits that are available to Iowans for various charitable contributions.  As a follow-up, I should note that these are just 3 of the approximately 30 tax credits that Iowa makes available to individuals and businesses for various things.  You may have noticed that the 3 credits mentioned in my last post can be confusing to decipher.  I can tell you that the other 27 (or so) credits are just as confusing. 

Iowa's dizzying array of obscure and confusing tax credits, coupled with multiple tiers of tax rates and a high "top rate," is why Iowa consistently ranks very low in terms of "tax friendliness." Plus, some of the credits have been very poorly administered and full of fraud.