Tax amnesty for twenty somethings proposed

Republicans in the Iowa Senate are advancing a controversial proposal that would exempt residents under age 30 from state income taxes to halt a brain drain.

"More than half of our college graduates leave the state after graduation," Iowa Senate GOP co-president Jeff Lamberti told the Des Moines Register. "We want to reverse Iowa's brain drain and make our state a more attractive place for our young people."

Iowa's personal income tax collects about $2.7 billion a year and backers said the proposed tax incentive would cost $200 million annually. Average taxpayers in their 20s or younger would save about $600 a year.

Iowa would be the first U.S. state to offer youth a tax break to stay rather than seek job offers outside the state.

Senate Republicans also said the tax exemption might help businesses recruit educated young workers to move to the state.

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