On the opening day of the Iowa Legislature’s 2007 session, House Republican Leader Christopher Rants said, “The last thing business owners need is another study” about “the crushing effect commercial property taxes are having on Iowa’s entrepreneurs.”

On that first day, when the air was rich with potential, Senate Minority Leader Mary Lundby said, “When Senate Democrats propose legislation that boldly addresses our crisis in property tax policy through full scale reform and not simple shifts in the property tax burden that represents a stop-gap approach, Senate Republicans will work with you.”

However, Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal didn’t mention the topic in his opening remarks, and his party was in command.

In the end, the only thing business owners got was an interim legislative study committee.

A unit of commercial property located in Des Moines and valued at $1 million is subject to property taxes of $41,236, according to a 50-state study by the 2005 National Taxpayers Conference. The national average at that time was $24,669.

The problem is obvious, the solution less so.

Much of what the Legislature accomplished was fairly straightforward. Fixing the property tax structure is far more complicated.

As Rants went on to say: “The last thing homeowners need is to become the new victims. … If we are going to improve Iowa’s property tax climate, then the first step must be to limit the growth. If (Democrats) are still interested in actually limiting the growth of property taxes, and not just shifting the burden to someone else, Republicans are here and ready to help.”

A long-term solution might have to be more radical than that.

Still, with years of analysis to draw on, the interim committee should be able to work with the governor’s office and come up with a sound approach. Business owners shouldn’t assume that will happen, though. Anyone who wants a change needs to lobby for it.