New Iowa Law Prohibits Basic Income Programs

A Letter From Iowan Gordie Felger

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Gordie Felger

A law that took effect on January 1 ended a pilot program designed to lift central Iowans out of poverty. UpLift gave income-qualified families in Dallas, Polk, and Warren counties $500 per month. The law prohibits Iowa counties and cities from establishing such supplemental income programs.

Why? Giving struggling families a financial boost seems like a good idea. Five hundred dollars may not sound like much. But it may help some move into a home, pay rent, buy groceries, pay for childcare, repair a car, pay off debt, or start a business.

Well, because there’s a school of thought that says giving people “unearned income” makes them lazy. That it creates a “welfare state” in which people blow the funds on their addictions. That poverty is the fault of the poor. Remember Ronald Regan’s “welfare queens?” These are unfair and harmful stereotypes of people living in poverty.

Giving people a monetary lift actually strengthens communities. Parents can better care for themselves and their families when they’re freed from financial stress. Better physical and mental health reduces hospital visits. Secure housing reduces the need for shelters and increases family stability. Children taken into state custody may reunite with their parents.

UpLift didn’t make participants lazy. It gave them hope and dignity.

Gov. Reynolds canceled UpLift before we could know its full benefits. Is the idea of a basic income so dangerous that we can’t even try it? That is indeed a shameful loss for all Iowa communities.

Gordie Felger
Hiawatha, Iowa

This was originally published on Felger’s Substack, wtfiowa.substack.com.

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Letters From Iowans is a part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. We encourage you, our subscribers, to share your perspective in this column. To make your voice heard, use this form to send us your essay:

Letters From Iowans FORM

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