Interim Governor Jim Risch is convening an unusual special session of our Idaho legislature this Friday, August 25th. The sole purpose is to pass the tax plan that he could not muster the votes for during regular session. Apparently he has worked over enough legislators to change their votes and ensure passage.
Apparently the plan is to reduce property taxes and pay for the reduction through our state surplus and a 1-cent sales tax increase. An advisory vote is being put on the November ballot to ask taxpayers if we like it or not, but the legislature is not obligated to act in accordance with the majority opinion.
If the widely-reported and undisputed media calculations are to be believed, big corporations and rich folks stand to benefit the most, average homeowners like me will see a small to nill effect, and the 1/4 of Idaho residents who rent will simply lose by paying more sales tax with no guaranteed reduction in their rents.
I liked the Post Register’s article yesterday where they calculated the tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars that big Idaho companies stand to save with the Risch tax shift. They ran some good numbers on the approximate tax savings of eight companies, but did not total the savings. The Post Register, Mountain View, and Wal-Mart were the smallest, so I calculated the five bigger east Idaho companies (EIRMC, Anheuser Busch, Group Modelo, Melaleuca, and Price Development) stand to gain nearly a million dollars in tax savings themselves ($925,989.75).
Do these companies seem like they are in more need of money than you or I? How many more millions are being given to other companies around Idaho, such as Simplot, HP, Micron, or the Tamarack Resort?
Why can’t the property tax plan be changed to only reduce tax rates on properties valued under $400,000? That would give the biggest relief to the taxpayers that need it most, and then we would not have to raise our sales tax and endanger our school funding.
Why can’t the surplus be given back as a straight tax refund to families? It is painfully obvious that this plan is designed to help the minority richest Idahoans and companies over the majority average to poor Idahoans. Why is our leadership seeming to slap us in the face so obviously, especially in the months before an election? I must be stupid, because I don’t understand it.
I’ve tried to keep an open mind about it, but it seems more and more like an election-year ploy to me from a lame-duck governor helping out his richest constituents at the expense of the 1/4 poorest Idahoans, without really helping average homeowners like myself, and putting public school funding at risk.
I ask if this will be known as the ‘Risch Wash’, since the majority of average Idahoans will only see small savings if any. I plan to check how our Idaho Falls representatives and senators vote on Friday, and to publish their votes.
What do you think?
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It WAS all he had to say about it!
:@:)
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Its a fair bet that Big Buiseness in Idaho has Jim “Short Term” Risch in their pockets. I wrote Jim a letter 2 weeks ago and haven’t heard back from him since…no big surprise there, maybe he’s busy campaighning in
ISP’s Airplane (loaned to them by the Federal Government) on the Idaho Tax Payers Dime?. One good thing about Short Term, he’ll fade to oblivian in a few months AFTER he has stuck it to the working class of Idaho.
I hear that term — “working class” — thrown out usually when folks are complaining about “big business” or “the wealthy.” I’ve thought long and hard about it and I can’t think of anyone in the United States who isn’t in the “working class” except, maybe, for those in the “welfare class.”
So help me out here, please. Educate me as to just who these people are who are wealthy and don’t, or didn’t, work to get wealthy.
Thanks.
8b has a point everyone has to work to make wealth, but what seems to be happening is that sheet metal workers, and lawyers both want to be counted as “working class”. I submit this all animals are equal just some more equal then others. As to those that are wealth and didn’t or don’t work to get wealthy, I know of a good deal of trust fund babies here in town.
I know next to nothing about trust funds and the trust fund babies, so forgive me for doing a lot of assuming here.
I will first assume that the trust these babies are living on is sufficient to make them not only wealthy, but wealthy enough to not have to work so they don’t work. This takes them out of the “working class.” (Trust fund babies who work would still belong to the “working class.”)
So how would the tax changes the governor is proposing effect these trust fund baby, non-working class citizens?
I say post the results. I’m more interested to see if anyone will care. Maybe not at first, but they’ll notice when they’re paying 6% sales tax. (Actually, I’m suprised that it even came down from the 6% it was a few years ago.) Maybe they’ll care when the election comes up in November.
I love how the biased Secretary of State worded the advisory question on the ballot. It is confusing and won’t generate the most accurate results because of its confusion. Thanks Ben.
I love how the biased Secretary of State worded the advisory question
Jessica: it wasn’t the Secretary of State that worded the question. It was the Legislature when they passed the Governor’s bill, H001. The wording is exactly specified in the bill.
I don’t believe that the SoS can change language approved by the Legislature, due to separation of powers.
Thanks John, just realized that. The blog I read that off of reported it wrong.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to clear up a few misconceptions about the Risch property tax plan, as well as some other misstated facts. These facts mainly came from Joe Vandal, and Debbie. Jessica had her misstatement cleared up by John, so no need to go there.
First, all Idahoans/ Idaho businesses got the exact same percentage tax break on their property taxes. All that was done was eliminating the M&O from the assessment. That is the only levy of the three components of the tax assessment that automatically increases with the assessed value of your home, so that will keep it from rising.
Secondly, Jim Risch did not have a regular session to put this legislation forth in. He did not become Governor until after the legislature had adjourned. He also has no part in enacting or persuading legislation as a Lt. Governor.
Lastly Debbie, the plane that you refer to was appropriated to the State of Idaho (we own it free and clear) in 1998 by John Warner from Virginia, who was Chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and of which Dirk Kempthorne was a committee member. It is not as ISP plane either. It is maintained by the Idaho Department of Transportation under the aeronautics division.
Just thought I would clear up some rhetoric that seems to go unnoticed and unchallenged sometimes.
Jeff-
Do you have any more info on this plane? Is it usual for states to have planes “appropriated” to them?
Thanks for your comment, Jeff.
I understand everyone got the same percentage tax break, and that reduced taxes more for the rich and big businesses than the rest of us.
Our state government does not operate on percentage, but on hard dollar amounts. The money still needs to be made up.
They traded the percentage property tax to the percentage sales tax increase. It was a trade, not a tax cut. Therefore it was a wash (the infamous Risch Wash of 2006).
So let’s think about the groups that pay each tax. Are ordinary average Idahoans shouldering more property taxes or more sales taxes?
Are richer Idahoans (and out of staters with expensive Idaho vacation homes) and big businesses shouldering more property taxes or sales taxes?
Shifting the tax burden from property taxes to sales taxes put more burden on average Idahoans and took burden off of our biggest companies and richest Idahoans.
You cannot argue against that, can you? Is that a misstatement?
You are correct that Rish was not governor during session and had no power to introduce his own legislation as LT. governor.
Maybe I’m an idiot (I’ll admit it again if so), but I remember the same property tax shift was brought up during session (probably by someone else), but it did not have the votes. When Risch became governor, he grabbed hold of that languished idea and breathed new life into it.
Correct or not that it was brought up and died during the 2006 session?
Marty Trillhaase wrote an interesting op-ed piece in today’s Post Register, pointing out the infamous “Risch Wash of ‘06″ is quickly eroding away.
School districts around the state are growing, and they have to push for property tax increases. The state has not properly addressed the school funding issue, so property owners still have to shoulder those costs.
Growing education costs are not the real problem, though, and Marty almost painted them that way (I think unintentionally).
The real problem is that Risch and Idaho lawmakers gave a big tax credit to the wealthiest citizens and corporations, and heck even non-citizens who own second homes here.
Marty asserted that only the top 5% of Idahoans saw tax savings from the property-tax-to-sales-tax shift.
Are you in that top 5%? Who’s representing you?
It really irks me that they gave such a huge tax savings to out-of-staters with second/vacation home here.
It’s almost like our ‘representatives’ represent those folks more than they represent the voters here in Idaho.
Sadly I wasn’t the least bit surprised by what came in my mailbox today. I received my yearly property tax assessment.
Mysteriously (or maybe not so) my house somehow in just one years time managed to accrue more value than it had in the last ten years combined and even more mysteriously my property tax this year is about the same as it was last year.
I’m not sure whats sadder. That it was so predictable that this would be the back door way counties would keep the coffers full or that conservatives will somehow still try and claim the tax shift was a good idea.
Are you suggesting our wise leaders hosed Idahoans?
Hey at least we got a higher sales tax out of the deal. Oh wait…