Idaho’s Business Personal Property Tax By The Numbers

Molly Messick / StateImpact

All the drawers, shelving, and buckets that hold sweets at Powell's Candy Shoppe in Boise are taxed annually.

Over the next few days, StateImpact Idaho will roll out radio features, an interactive map, and county-by-county data on Idaho’s business personal property tax.

Why? The tax has long been loathed by some businesses and their lobbyists. The Legislature is under increasing pressure to decide how and when to repeal the tax during the current session, after taking a stab at it 2008.

So, we want to put Idaho’s personal property tax in context. Is this a tax that stifles business and burdens small mom-and-pop companies? Who pays the most? Who will benefit the if the tax is eliminated? We’ll answer many of these questions over the next few days.  First, here are some personal property tax tidbits to wet your whistle:

By The Numbers

• 53,226 Idaho companies pay personal property tax
• The median payment in 2011 was $89.64
• The average payment in 2011 was $1,789.42
• Businesses paid a total of $95,243,837.07 in 2011
• 382 companies paid less than $1 in 2011
• 6,904 companies paid less than $5 in 2011
• One of the top personal property tax payers is the J.R. Simplot Company. If we combine the amounts paid by all of its Idaho businesses, Simplot paid $3,678,042.45 in 2011.

These stats can all be attributed to data from the Idaho State Tax Commission. Look for our county-by-county interactive map, coming soon!