State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat who’s running for governor, says when it comes to property taxes, he supports taxing out-of-state property owners at a higher rate than Iowa residents. Sand’s proposal would apply to all classes of property — residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural. He says Iowa should be for Iowans — and that kind of two-tiered property tax system could make it easier for Iowans to be able to afford a piece of Iowa. The latest Iowa State University survey on farmland ownership — done back in 2022 — found about half of Iowa farmland is owned by someone who doesn’t farm.
