The Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry's Alex LaBeau is the face of the effort to eliminate Idaho's personal property tax.
Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter and prominent state legislators have lined up behind the idea of eliminating or scaling back Idaho’s personal property tax.  The issue was high on the agenda as local government leaders came together at an Association of Idaho Cities meeting on Friday.
Nearly all property tax dollars collected in Idaho are collected and spent by local governments. The business personal property tax brings in roughly 10 percent of total property tax collections, sending about $140 million to local taxing districts each year.
Given that, it’s a small wonder that elected officials from cities and counties are crying foul at the notion that state lawmakers might do away with the tax. After Friday’s panel discussion, Boise City council member Elaine Clegg said reducing or getting rid of the tax in the name of economic development simply doesn’t make sense. Continue Reading →
A statue of George Washington sits on the fourth floor of the Idaho Capitol.
The 2013 Idaho Legislature is ready for business. Now that the organizational session has wrapped up, and committee assignments have been made, lawmakers will launch into what’s sure to be a packed session one month from today.
On the Senate Finance side of JFAC, Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, will continue to chair the panel. Although, as the Spokesman Review reports, the Finance Committee has a large number of new members. Continue Reading →
A harvesting combine, which is considered personal property, is tax-exempt in Idaho. A restaurant's wine glasses, on the other hand, are taxable personal property.
The personal property tax is shaping up to be one of the key issues of the 2013 legislative session. For years, the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry has lobbied for the tax to be repealed or phased out. Lawmakers and Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter appear to have decided that this is the year to get down to brass tacks. Counties and cities are pushing back.
The governor summarized the main questions about getting rid of the personal property tax in an appearance at the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho conference this week. “What is the process that we should use?” he asked. “Should we take a multiple year approach to it? Should we replace the funds, and if so, how? Where is that revenue stream going to come from?”
If those questions leave you baffled, read on. This is your guide to the personal property tax in Idaho. Continue Reading →
Idaho’s House of Representatives will start its 2013 legislative session under new leadership. The Republican majority voted out incumbent Speaker Lawerence Denney (R-Midvale) last night. Here’s more about what that means from the Spokesman Review.
Idaho House speaker Denney ousted — Three-term Idaho House Speaker Lawerence Denney, arguably the most powerful member of the Idaho Legislature, lost his leadership post tonight to rival Rep. Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, in a dramatic political upset. The ouster, which happened during closed-door legislative caucus elections, marked the first time in three decades that a top Idaho legislative leader has been deposed by his own party.  Spokesman Review
Minority Dems elect legislative leaders in Idaho — Idaho’s minority Democrats in the House and Senate elected leaders for the 2013 session. The House’s 13 Democratic members reaffirmed Rep. John Rusche of Lewiston as minority leader Wednesday. The Associated Press
The 2013 Idaho Legislature is more than a quarter women. The Legislature has actually lost three women from the previous session. Still, the male to female split at Idaho’s Statehouse is better than the national average. The National Conference of State Legislatures’ data show women make up 24 percent of state lawmakers nationally.
So, does the gender make-up of our elected officials matter? It’s one of the questions StateImpact wanted to explore as we gathered basic demographic information on all of Idaho’s legislators after November’s election. Continue Reading →
Frank Henderson, a former newsman, says being a reporter gave him the confidence to ask important questions. That, he says, has made all the difference in his political career.
The 2013 Idaho Legislature is in town today for it’s biennial organizational session. This is when lawmakers confirm their leaders and prep for the session which begins next month. Today also happens to be Rep. Frank Henderson’s (R-Post Falls) 90th birthday.
Henderson, born in 1922, was a soldier in World War II and a reporter for a Chicago-area Hearst newspaper. Henderson worked in advertising, publishing, and owned the Post Falls, Idaho newspaper before being elected to mayor and later county commissioner. It wasn’t until 2004, at age 82, Henderson decided to run for the Legislature.
Gov. Otter addressed supporters on election night.
Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said today that he expects a difficult legislative session. He spoke at the Associated Taxpayers of Idaho’s annual conference. The session will be a hard one, Otter said, “because of the decisions we have to make.”
The governor discussed what’s ahead for state education policy, given that voters resoundingly rejected the package of laws known as Students Come First. He predicted that elements of the failed laws will come back for consideration in 2013.
Gov. Otter also touched on the health insurance exchange and Medicaid expansion decisions that the state now faces, as well as the issue of personal property taxes. “I understand the plight of the counties,” the governor said, while indicating that he supports efforts to cut or phase out the tax. Some local taxing districts rely heavily on personal property tax revenue.  Continue Reading →
Idaho is one of the youngest states in the country. We’re third youngest, right behind Texas (#2) and Utah (#1). The median age here is 34.6, according to the most recent Census. More than 30 percent of Idaho is made up of people 19 and younger.
Emilie Ritter Saunders / StateImpact
More than 33 percent of Idaho's 2013 legislators are new. This week, the freshman have been going through orientation to get ready for the session.
Like most states, the people who make laws and set policy are much older than the general population. Idaho’s median, and average, age of a state legislator is 61. That’s older than the national average, which according to the National Conference of State Legislatures was 56 last year. Continue Reading →
Over the weekend, The New York Times started rolling out its in-depth, national look at how states are enticing business to their region through tax breaks, exemptions and subsidies. The series includes three lengthy articles plus subsidy data on all 50 states.
How Taxpayers Bankroll Business — “A Times investigation has examined and tallied thousands of local incentives granted nationwide and has found that states, counties and cities are giving up more than $80 billion each year to companies. The beneficiaries come from virtually every corner of the corporate world, encompassing oil and coal conglomerates, technology and entertainment companies, banks and big-box retail chains.” The New York Times
The Times’ Deal Book Blog also published a commentary on the future of Hewlett-Packard, a California-based company with a long history in Boise, Idaho.
To Save H.P., Break It in Two — “Hewlett-Packard’s $8.8 billion write-down of its Autonomy acquisition is just the latest evidence of the steady decline of one of the world’s great companies. Don’t blame Meg Whitman, the chief executive. She is just cleaning up the messes created since 1999 by her three predecessors and H.P.’s strategically challenged board of directors.” Deal Book
The Idaho National Laboratory provides 30 percent of all wages in Bonneville County, according to a 2010 Boise State University analysis.
The Idaho National Laboratory creates billions of dollars in economic impact for the state of Idaho, along with tens of thousands of jobs. Sustaining and expanding that economic engine may require relaxing some of the requirements and restrictions on spent nuclear fuel shipments and waste disposal included in a 1995 agreement between the state, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Department of Energy.
That’s the suggestion that undergirds a report released by Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter’s Leadership in Nuclear Energy (LINE) Commission Monday. The report is preliminary — it’s termed a “progress report” — and it includes recommendations from the commission’s handful of subcommittees. Continue Reading →
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