With Property Tax Deadline Today, Conlin Hypocritically Calls for More Taxes but Quietly Takes Abatement on Nearly $2 Million Mansion

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DES MOINES – Iowans across the state are feeling the burden of higher property taxes with today’s payment deadline, but U.S. Senate candidate Roxanne Conlin isn’t one of them after receiving tax abatement on her nearly $2 million mansion.

Conlin continues to campaign claiming she wants to “end tax breaks for the wealthy” but she and her husband applied for and city officials granted them an “urban revitalization tax abatement” on their 8,206-square-foot brick residence that also has a 1,431-square-foot deck and 192-square-foot porch in an upscale Des Moines neighborhood. As a result, the Conlins’ semi-annual property tax bill is only $1,441 despite owning the third-most expensive home in Des Moines. The mansion and land are valued at $1.78 million. Under the five-year abatement, the Conlins pay property taxes on only the lot and not the $1.65 million structure – and, in fact, their semi-annual property tax bill went down $347, 19 percent, this year.

“If Roxanne Conlin wants to end tax breaks for the wealthy, the first thing she can do is stop applying for them and then she can start paying property taxes on her home like ordinary Iowans do,” said Eric Woolson, spokesman for Sen. Chuck Grassley’s re-election campaign. “If she feels so strongly that everyone ought to pay higher taxes, why is it that she and her husband proactively sought to escape paying the property taxes that fund local schools, repair local streets and pay the salaries of school teachers, firefighters and police officers? Once again, her hypocrisy knows no bounds.”

“A politician can’t get more hypocritical than to call for higher taxes and then go out of their way to escape paying them. Roxanne Conlin seems to think everybody else in the world should pay more taxes than her, including older Iowans on fixed incomes who are just getting slammed with big property tax increases this year. When they cast their votes in the Senate race, Iowans who are paying more than their fair share might want to remember that Roxanne Conlin has once again avoided paying taxes.”

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