John,

Iowa’s Gov. Kim Reynolds recently bragged about the state’s $1.9 billion budget surplus. But what is she spending our state’s resources on? She gave a giant tax cut to corporations.

Make no mistake: Trickle-down economics is a farce. The GOP’s tax policies don’t help working families, they only help those at the top.

When we give giant tax breaks to mega corporations, they don’t use that money to pay their workers better or to give them increased benefits. They often use it for millions in CEO bonuses and to buy back stocks to artificially inflate the value of their companies.

It’s all a big scam to use taxpayer dollars to hoard the wealth at the top. We need to rebuild the middle class and close the wealth gap.

Here’s what we should spend the budget surplus on to help Iowa’s working families:

Invest in our public schools. Iowa used to be “first in the nation” in education. We need to stop Republican’ efforts to defund our public schools and instead invest in our children’s future.

Hire more teachers. We have a teacher shortage in Iowa and we need to address it NOW.

Fix our crumbling infrastructure. We need more funds to help fix roads, bridges and aging water infrastructure.

Increase mental health care access. We need to invest and expand mental health care access in the state. People shouldn’t have to drive long distances or jump through hoops just to get the care they need.

Invest in our students. We need to make Iowa’s higher education system more competitive and more affordable so Iowa students will choose to go to college here rather than leave the state.

It’s time to invest in ALL of our working families, not just those at the top.

Standing Tall for All,

J.D. Scholten