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: Continue Reading →
An office assistant, balancing on a stepladder to reach the top drawer of a filing cabinet
This morning, StateImpact published a report on the pay gap between men and women who work for the State of Idaho. Molly Messick joined Boise State Public Radio’s Morning Edition host Scott Graf to talk through the findings.
Q: First off, tell us a little about why you decided to look into this issue of pay equity in Idaho state government.
A: Sure. Every so often, we see reports that compare the earnings of men and women nationally and by state. In those reports, Idaho often falls at the bottom of the list in terms of the amount female workers earn compared to male workers. In September, a report based on Census data showed that women working full-time in Idaho earn about 75 cents on the dollar earned by men working full-time. Continue Reading →
Year after year, Idaho gets slapped with an unwelcome designation: It’s one of the states where women earn the least compared to men.
A recent study of the “gender wage gap” came from the National Women’s Law Center, and found the typical woman worker in Idaho earns 75.2 cents for every dollar earned by her male counterpart.
The gender wage gap has also been an issue at the top levels of state government. Last March, the Idaho Statesman found that women in Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s cabinet earned an average of $17,000 less than their male peers.  Following the firing of state transportation chief Pam Lowe in 2009, it was widely noted that the man who replaced her had a starting salary that was $22,000 higher. Continue Reading →
The Idaho Labor Department today released December jobless figures, showing the lowest seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in nearly four years. December’s rate dipped to 6.6 percent, down from 6.8 percent in November.
Unlike previous monthly jobless reports, this one signals stronger hiring.
“The labor force expanded, albeit just fractionally, for the first time since last May, and job opportunities were sufficient to accommodate not only 300 new entrants to the workforce but 1,500 workers who were previously without jobs. Rate declines in recent months have been due in large part to labor force contraction.” – Idaho Labor Department Continue Reading →
2012 was a good year, comparatively, for Idaho’s housing market.
RealtyTrac’s year-end foreclosure report was released this morning, and it shows Idaho’s foreclosure rate and rank among states continue to drop. The Gem State now ranks 14th, bumping Idaho out of the top 10 in the annual ranking for the first time in years. Continue Reading →
Earlier this week Statelinewrote about signs of the construction industry turnaround. Their opening scene: downtown Boise.
“The corner of 8th and Main streets in downtown Boise, Idaho, was jokingly called “the hole” because it had been vacant since a 1987 fire there. No more. Construction began last summer on a new $60-million building that’s now the headquarters of Zions Bank. And a new $70-million convention center called Jack’s Urban Meeting Place is also on track to open in downtown Boise next year.” – Stateline
As Stateline reports, and we have too, Idaho’s construction industry took a nose dive during the recession. Idaho lost more than 40 percent of it’s construction jobs, and they have not been quick to rebound. Continue Reading →
Ammunition designed and manufactured by PNW Arms, a company that relocated from the Seattle suburbs to Potlatch, Idaho in 2011.
The Idaho Department of Commerce and 24 Idaho businesses are attending the Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show and Conference taking place in Las Vegas through Friday.
The trade show is billed as “the largest and most comprehensive trade show for all professionals involved with the shooting sports, hunting and law enforcement industries.” It’s owned and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade association based in Newtown, Conn.
The Idaho Department of Commerce began an effort to recruitrecreation technology companies to the state in 2008. As we’ve reported elsewhere, the term “recreation technology” is intentionally broad — Commerce Director Jeff Sayer says it encompasses “anything under a Cabela’s roof” — but, notably, it includes the gun industry. Continue Reading →
Here’s what The New York Times wrote about the announcement:
Company officials said they believe the program, which will officially begin on Memorial Day — May 27 this year — will lead to the hiring of more than 100,000 people in the next five years, the length of the commitment. Continue Reading →
Dept. of Health and Welfare director Richard Armstrong.
After the recession years of cutting staff and budgets at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, the department’s director says the agency is now “hanging on” and is asking lawmakers to fund 24.9 new full time positions.
Health and Welfare director Dick Armstrong approached the Legislature’s main budget panel yesterday with a different tone from years past. He suggested the budget cutting over the last few years has been good for the agency.
“We are not looking to restore any benefits that were reduced over the past few years,” Armstrong said to lawmakers. “We have to hold on to those savings, for many of them helped us focus on paying for value.” Continue Reading →
JFAC co-chairs Dean Cameron (R-Rupert) and Maxine Bell (R-Jerome).
The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare estimates that 70,340 people will join Idaho’s Medicaid rolls next year, department chief Richard Armstrong told the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee today.
This isn’t news to people who have watched Idaho wrestle with the Affordable Care Act; a November report from independent consulting group Milliman projected the enrollment growth. However, it’s not something we have detailed here on the StateImpact site.
Half of those 70,000 people are currently eligible for Medicaid, but not enrolled. They’re what’s referred to as the “woodwork group,” as in “the group that will come out of the woodwork” once the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate goes into effect in 2014. Continue Reading →
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