The Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines, where the Department of Revenue certified the 2026 rollbacks. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Iowa Department of Revenue has certified the 2026 assessment limitation percentages, the “rollbacks” that decide how much of a property’s actual value can be taxed, and farm ground will be taxed at a little more than 61% of its actual value.
In an order issued Nov. 1 and dated Oct. 27, Local Government Services administrator Joy Kanne directed every county auditor to apply the new percentages to 2026 actual values. Agricultural realty, not including dwellings on the farm, is limited to 61.2546% of actual value. Residential property, including those farm dwellings, is limited to 45.6926%.
Commercial, industrial and railroad property is split. The first $150,000 of each unit is limited to the same 45.6926% residential rate. Value above $150,000 is limited to 90%. Utility property is taxed at 100% if it is valued under chapter 437, and at 96% if it is valued under chapters 428 and 438.
Those taxable values, the order says, are the ones property taxes will be levied against in 2026 and paid in the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2027. The rollback is a statewide calculation, not a Wright County one. Iowa law limits how fast taxable value from revaluation can grow, and the Department of Revenue publishes the resulting percentages each fall, a process the department explains on its equalization and assessment limitations page.
A rollback is not a tax rate. Clarion, the county, the school districts and the other levying bodies still set their own levies on the taxable value that remains. For a farm family, the practical effect is that only about three-fifths of the actual value of the ground is on the tax roll, while the house on that ground is treated like other residences. For a Main Street storefront, the first $150,000 gets the lower residential-style limitation, and the rest is taxed much closer to full value.
Wright County Auditor’s and Assessor’s offices will apply the new percentages as they build the valuations that underlie next year’s bills. Questions about a particular parcel still go to the assessor, Tonee Nicholas, at the courthouse in Clarion.
Holly Shafer writes for Clarion News Online.