How Idaho Spends State Tax Dollars

Background

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Idaho will spend nearly half of its $2.78 billion annual budget on K-12 public schools during the 2014 fiscal year. When you include funding for colleges, universities, public television, and ag research, more than 60 percent of the state budget is spent on education.

Here’s a broad look at how lawmakers appropriated tax payer dollars for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2014.

Data Source: Legislative Services Office | Chart: Emilie Ritter Saunders

Nearly half of the revenue to pay for state government comes from individual income tax payers. The state expects to collect $2.77 billion in taxes during fiscal year 2014.

Data Source: Legislative Services Office | Chart: Emilie Ritter Saunders

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March 5, 2012

Plan To Reverse Key Medicaid Cuts Gets A Hearing

A ranking House Republican is sponsoring a bill to reverse key cuts in Medicaid services. Rep. Janice McGeachin (R-Idaho Falls) chairs the House Health and Welfare Committee. That committee oversaw the state’s process of reining in Medicaid services as the state’s economy suffered the effects of the downturn. Rep. McGeachin now says lawmakers made one […]

February 28, 2012

Proposed Ag Subsidy Cuts Won’t Touch Most Idaho Farmers

President Obama’s budget proposal, released earlier this month, outlines cuts to ag subsidies. That’s a potential hot button issue for rural and agricultural states, including Idaho. The Los Angeles Times summarized those cuts this way: The White House wants to cap direct payments to farmers — which flow mainly to producers of corn, soybeans, cotton […]

February 24, 2012

Budget Setting: How It Works, Why You Should Care

The Idaho Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee began budget setting in earnest this week, after weeks of hearings. Writing the budget is the legislature’s only constitutional requirement, and it has to be balanced. For a primer on the nuts and bolts of the process, StateImpact reached out to Cathy Holland-Smith. She oversees budget and policy analysis […]

February 21, 2012

Income Tax Reduction Would Make Little Difference To Small Business Owners

In reporting yesterday’s story about the competing budget priorities that legislators are weighing this session, I reached out to a lot of business groups. I wanted to identify a small business owner who could walk me through just what a reduced individual income tax rate would mean for his or her business over time; I […]

February 17, 2012

Budget Setting Committee Adopts Revenue Numbers, Budget Writing Begins

The Joint Finance Appropriations Committee has agreed to budget from a figure that’s about $33 million less than Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter’s recommendation. JFAC agreed with its colleagues in the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee to set its revenue estimate below the Governor’s number. Now, lawmakers will set the state spending plan for fiscal […]

February 2, 2012

Budget Co-Chairman Says Public Hearing is Painful but Worthwhile

Idaho budget writers will spend Friday morning listening to constituents. The Idaho Statesman reports it’s just the second public hearing of its kind in 92 years. In 2011, Joint Finance Appropriations Committee Co-Chairs Rep. Maxine Bell (R-Jerome) and Sen. Dean Cameron (R-Rupert) decided to open Idaho’s budgeting process to the public. Cameron says the idea […]

January 30, 2012

Otter One of “At Least a Dozen” Republican Governors Proposing Tax Cuts

Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter is not alone among governors in pushing for tax cuts as states’ budget crunches begin to ease. This story on NPR’s Morning Edition highlighted Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam’s push for reductions in the state’s tax on food and the estate tax. According to the story, that plan is drawing criticism […]

January 25, 2012

Lawmakers Likely to Have Tough Budget Choices Ahead

As we reported yesterday, state lawmakers could have about $33 million less to spend on government services next year. The Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee voted to create the state’s spending plan with a tax revenue estimate lower than the governor’s proposal. This means lawmakers could be faced with choices. Governor Butch Otter laid […]

January 24, 2012

The Road to Idaho’s Revenue Estimate

This evening at the Statehouse, the Economic Outlook and Revenue Assessment Committee (EORAC) meets to discuss an important number: its revenue forecast. Just as the governor bases his budget on a revenue estimate, so does the Idaho Legislature. Both numbers are critical, because they dictate the spending levels that lawmakers will settle on over the […]

January 18, 2012

At Medicaid Panel, A Personal Story And Calls For Change

Medicaid recipients, their advocates and service providers want to drive home the point that cuts to the program have real effects for individuals and communities. At a roundtable discussion this morning they called for a restoration of services that have been reduced in recent years. At the heart of the broad-ranging discussion was an individual […]