WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today said a report from a bipartisan tax working group he co-chaired reflects input he received from Iowans on the need to consolidate or otherwise simplify the tax code.

"Iowans are frustrated with the complexity of the tax code," Grassley said.  "Getting help from the IRS is often impossible, and identity theft is an increasing concern.  Our working group presented options for cleaning up the tax code and tax administration in key areas.  I'm grateful for the ideas and concerns I heard from Iowans to inform this work."

Grassley was one of three co-chairs of a bipartisan working group tasked with individual income tax reform.  The leaders of the Finance Committee, with jurisdiction over tax policy, convened the working groups and received reports from each group this week.

The individual income tax reform working group focused on options for potential bipartisan agreement in three areas:  charitable giving, higher education and tax administration including identity theft.  The group's report is available here.  More information on the Finance Committee's tax reform effort is available here.

Earlier this year, Grassley conducted a survey of Iowans to collect their ideas and priorities for tax reform.  He also joined a forum with tax professionals and business leaders in Des Moines with the same goal.  Iowans expressed the need for tax simplification and fairness.

Last month, Grassley introduced comprehensive legislation to improve customer service at the IRS, create new taxpayer protections, and update and strengthen existing taxpayer protections.  The Taxpayer Bill of Rights Enhancement Act of 2015 comes amid gross mismanagement and inappropriate actions by IRS employees that have shaken what little confidence taxpayers may have had in the agency.

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WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa is urging fair treatment of the wind energy production tax credit whenever the committee of jurisdiction takes up expired or expiring tax provisions.

"Good tax policy requires certainty that can only come from long-term predictable tax laws," Grassley wrote to Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the Finance Committee.  "Businesses need certainty in the tax code so they can plan and invest accordingly.  And, while I look forward to working with my colleagues in the future to enact tax reform and put an end to the headaches and uncertainty created by the regular expiration of tax provisions, right now our focus must be on extending current expired or expiring provisions to give us room to work toward that goal."

Grassley's letter noted that opponents of renewable energy single out such provisions for removal while overlooking the many generous, permanent provisions benefiting other forms of energy.  Grassley has detailed the many provisions benefiting the oil, gas and nuclear industries in remarks on the Senate floor.   His letter said Iowa ranks third in the nation in terms of installed wind capacity, providing more than 28 percent of Iowa's electricity, while supporting more than 6,000 jobs.  Nationally, the wind energy industry supports more than 73,000 jobs.  "With jobs and the economy at the top of Americans' concerns, it would be a travesty for our new majority to put these jobs at risk," Grassley wrote.

Grassley also wrote that the wind energy industry is the only industry that has put out a phase-out plan for its tax credit.  He said such a phase-out should occur in the context of comprehensive tax reform, where all energy tax provisions are on the table.

Grassley authored and won enactment of the first-ever wind energy production tax credit in 1992.  The incentive was designed to give wind energy the ability to compete against coal-fired and nuclear energy and helped to launch the wind energy industry.  He has worked to extend the credit ever since.

Grassley is a senior member and former chairman of the Finance Committee.

AMES, IA (07/08/2015)(readMedia)-- Thirty-six architecture and 11 landscape architecture students studied in Italy for the spring 2015 semester with the Iowa State University College of Design Rome Program. Their studio projects involved research, analysis and proposed redesign of segments of the 12-mile Aurelian Wall that rings the area of Imperial-era Rome. They also participated in a three-day design charrette with 19 students from the University of Oklahoma in Rome and 50 Italian students from Roma Tre University.

Victor Valadez of Muscatine, IA (52761), majoring in Architecture at Iowa State University, traveled to Italy in spring 2015 for a semester of study with the ISU College of Design Rome Program.

Bethanie Blake of Davenport, IA (52807), majoring in Architecture at Iowa State University, traveled to Italy in spring 2015 for a semester of study with the ISU College of Design Rome Program.

Evan Aubry of Moline, IL (61265), majoring in Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University, traveled to Italy in spring 2015 for a semester of study with the ISU College of Design Rome Program.

The 12-mile Aurelian Wall (completed 275 AD) that rings the area of Imperial-era Rome served as the focus for all the studio projects.

For the first project, students redesigned one of the wall's historic gates as an archaeological artifact that houses a museum, with particular consideration for improving the relationship between the gate and the contemporary city's infrastructure. On the second project, architecture and landscape architecture students formed interdisciplinary teams to conduct inventory and analysis on different one-mile segments of the wall, so they could have good analytical information for the whole wall. This fed into the third project, for which students proposed an intervention in some segment of the Aurelian Wall that forged connections while highlighting the wall as a historic urban artifact or monument.

Between the second and third projects, Iowa State University held a three-day design charrette about the Aurelian Wall in association with 19 students from the University of Oklahoma and about 50 Italian students from Rome Tre University. The charrette was held at Roma Tre's campus in Testaccio and the work was exhibited In Iowa State's studios at the Palazzo Cenci in the historic center of Rome.

The students' study was enhanced by extended field trips to northern Italy (Bagnaia, Caprarola, Perugia, Venice, Verona, Vicenza) and southern Italy (Baia, Naples, Paestum, Pompeii and the island of Capri) as well as day trips throughout Rome and environs.

The College of Design offers a variety of high-quality international experiences to students through faculty-led semester, summer and spring-break programs as well as other short-term study abroad opportunities and exchange programs in locations around the world.