{"id":14281,"date":"2013-01-03T09:16:35","date_gmt":"2013-01-03T16:16:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=14281"},"modified":"2013-01-03T09:16:35","modified_gmt":"2013-01-03T16:16:35","slug":"rep-collins-we-dont-have-the-money-to-get-rid-of-idahos-personal-property-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2013\/01\/03\/rep-collins-we-dont-have-the-money-to-get-rid-of-idahos-personal-property-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Collins: We Don’t Have The Money To Get Rid Of Idaho’s Personal Property Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Molly Messick \/ StateImpact Idaho<\/p>

Rep. Gary Collins has served on the Revenue and Taxation Committee for 12 years.<\/p><\/div>\n

Rep. Gary Collins, a Republican from Nampa, heads the Revenue and Taxation Committee.\u00a0 It’s a powerful position, because all tax bills originate in the House.\u00a0 What’s more, there’s bound to be particular attention focused on the committee this session as the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, the state’s most powerful business lobby, pushes for a repeal of the personal property tax<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In Idaho, the personal property tax only applies to personal property used for business purposes.\u00a0 According to a recent estimate from the Idaho State Tax Commission, revenue from the personal property tax <\/a>totaled $141 million in 2012.\u00a0 Nearly all of Idaho’s property tax revenue is collected and spent by local governments.<\/p>\n

Collins began by talking about the possible courses of action with respect to the personal property tax when we met in mid-December.\u00a0 This interview is one of several conducted by StateImpact<\/em> to preview the 2013 legislative session<\/a>, which begins Monday.<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>It’s not a new subject to Revenue and Tax.\u00a0 We passed a piece of legislation back in 2008 that would have exempted the first $100,000 worth of personal property, which would have covered a large percentage of the businesses here in Idaho.\u00a0 But one of the things we had to do in order to get it passed by both bodies was to put a trigger on it.\u00a0 Since the economy has went in the tank since then, the trigger has never been met.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s talk of taking the trigger off of that particular piece of legislation.\u00a0 There\u2019s talk of maybe moving it to $250,000.\u00a0 The $100,000 \u2013 and these figures could vary \u2013 we\u2019re looking at around\u00a0 $18 million as far as a hit to the counties.\u00a0 And the $250,000 would be in the neighborhood of about $10 million more than that, approximately.\u00a0 Then there are those who have expressed that they want to take it off of everything.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t talked a lot to our caucus to get the feeling, and I can\u2019t speak for the Speaker.\u00a0 He was on the committee and voted for the initial bill.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be one of the bigger issues on Rev and Tax, but we have to decide which way we\u2019re going to push.\u00a0 We\u2019ll try to make a decision on which is the most feasible, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll go with.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>When you say \u201cwhich way we\u2019re going to push,\u201d do you mean the $100,000 exemption, the $250,000 exemption, or exempting personal property entirely?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Yes, exactly.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>There must be bills floating around for each of those ideas, at this point.<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>I\u2019m sure there are.\u00a0 I haven\u2019t seen them yet, but I\u2019m sure there are.\u00a0 And of course, the $100,000 is already a piece of legislation.\u00a0 We would just have to tweak it a little bit.<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be an interesting topic.\u00a0 I\u2019m much in favor of it.\u00a0 The counties have a good point.\u00a0 There are counties that it\u2019s as low as one or two percent of their total budget, but there are counties that are the low 40s, as a percent of their budget, so something is going to have to be worked out.\u00a0 We can’t just pull that out from under them and leave them to figure it out on their own.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>When you say that you\u2019re in favor of it, do you mean you\u2019re in favor of one of these three options, or is there a particular one that you favor?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>I\u2019m in favor of taking as much of the personal property tax<\/a> off as we possibly can.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to come out in favor of one particular thing right at this time, but like I said, I voted for the $100,000 one, so I obviously supported that.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been to a number of different meetings over the last couple of months, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll be to a few more, from the counties as well as proponents of taking it clear off.\u00a0 The counties are in favor of it, but they have a big concern about taking the whole thing off.<\/p>\n

With any tax issue that we do, there\u2019s always some type of a shift.\u00a0 With $18 million, the lower one, that\u2019s not a huge amount when you spread it across the state.\u00a0 But $140 million — that\u2019s a big hit.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>It sounds like you favor replacement revenue of some sort.\u00a0 Is that right?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>I don\u2019t know that I would say that I am in favor of replacement, but I am in favor of trying to work out something so that those counties that really rely on the personal property tax don\u2019t end up shifting the tax someplace else.\u00a0 That would defeat the whole purpose of it, in my opinion.\u00a0 If it got shifted from personal property to property tax, for example.\u00a0 I am against that.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>In your mind, what would be the options for helping out the taxing districts that are heavily reliant on the personal property tax, apart from just creating a formula for replacing that revenue using state funds?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Well, of course we took the personal property tax off of agriculture a few years ago.\u00a0 That amounts to about $12 to $13 million a year, and we replaced that.\u00a0 Of course, if we\u2019re talking about $140 million, the budget has been dramatically reduced over the last couple of years, so there is not $140 million that could be put out to replace the whole thing in the counties.<\/p>\n

I hate being pessimistic, but I feel that \u2013 especially with the mess our federal government is in right now \u2013 we don\u2019t have the money.\u00a0 Maybe for the $100,000 or $250,000 exemption, but the total amount?\u00a0 I don\u2019t see that.\u00a0 Let\u2019s say it was $140 million over a six-year period — that\u2019s still a hefty chunk of money that would have to come out of the general fund each year.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>You’re saying that\u2019s a conundrum.<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Yes, it is.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what we \u2018ll have to deal with.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure we will work something out, but the particulars of it \u2013 I couldn\u2019t say, right now.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>A couple of people\u00a0 \u2013 Alan Dornfest at the tax commission, along with Speaker Bedke<\/a> \u2013 have talked about the importance of clearly defining what personal property is.\u00a0 Is that something you think you all have to take up?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>We had a little bit of that with the last piece of legislation.\u00a0 That was a problem at that time \u2013 defining what is going to be taxed by Idaho and what isn\u2019t.\u00a0 It\u2019s a huge thing.<\/p>\n

The tax commission is a resource for us.\u00a0 They\u2019re the ones that enforce our tax laws, so they\u2019re going to have to weigh in a little bit.\u00a0 They will give us their opinion and we will decide whether we think it\u2019s right or not.\u00a0 It\u2019ll come down to the legislature deciding what we think is real property and what isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>There are other issues that are expected to figure heavily this session, like whether to create a state-based health insurance exchange and expand Medicaid.<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Well, the health insurance exchange<\/a> has been something that we\u2019ve been talking about for many years, since long before the Affordable Care Act was put on the books.\u00a0 I was in favor of it at that time.\u00a0 Of course, I had an insurance agency for many, many years, and I still have an insurance license.<\/p>\n

The governor has weighed in.\u00a0 He kind of supports it, I think.\u00a0 He\u2019s in the same position that we are, in that the rules are being written as we sit here today.\u00a0 We really don\u2019t know how much control we\u2019re going to have, how much control the federal government is going to have.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m co-chair of the Health Care Task Force.\u00a0 We had a piece of trial legislation that we passed out of the committee last year, but things changed after we passed that.\u00a0 A lot more information came out, and it didn\u2019t go anywhere.\u00a0 It never even got a hearing.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Was it really that a lot of things changed in that time, or was it just that lawmakers were hoping the Supreme Court would overturn the Affordable Care Act, or the election would overturn it.\u00a0 Were people just saying, \u201cLet\u2019s see if this whole thing goes away\u201d?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>To be honest about it, it\u2019s probably the fact that a lot of us were hoping we\u2019d have a different president.\u00a0 A lot of us were hoping, first off, that the Supreme Court would do away with the mandate.\u00a0 So it will be a major issue.<\/p>\n

The Medicaid expansion<\/a> is not supposed to be tied to that, but in a sense it is, because the health insurance exchange is, in my opinion, a portal to put people in Medicaid.\u00a0 Basically they would go to the insurance exchange, fill in the information, and if they qualify for Medicaid it just kicks them into Medicaid.\u00a0 I think that would also be an issue.\u00a0 Our caucus will have to decide which way we\u2019re going to go.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Do think there will be an attempt to come to a decision on the Medicaid expansion this session, even though there isn\u2019t the same kind of deadline pressure that we have with the health insurance exchange?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Not as much as there will be with the health insurance exchange.\u00a0 I do think they\u2019re tied together a little bit, but it depends on how fast things move as far as getting a piece of legislation and moving it through committee.<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Welfare, in their reports, has been moving along regardless of what we\u2019re doing right now, to try to improvise and put in force what they have to do in order to do it.\u00a0 And that, again, is a proposition that\u2019s in motion all the time, because the rules are changing all the time.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>What\u2019s your thinking about the Medicaid expansion?\u00a0 Do you think it\u2019s something the state should do?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Well, the proponents say it looks good on paper.\u00a0 So much of it hinges on what the federal government will reimburse us for.\u00a0 Not being one who has a lot of faith in what\u2019s going to happen federally as far as our budget \u2013 sure, the piece of legislation says they will reimburse us 100 percent for a certain length of time and then it will go to 90 percent from there.\u00a0 But it doesn\u2019t take a rocket scientist to figure out how much is going to be transferred back to the Idaho taxpayer, eventually.<\/p>\n

The only other thing we would have a choice on is the type of benefits we would offer.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Do you mean the state should establish a stripped-down benefits package for people who become eligible under the expansion?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>That\u2019s what we\u2019ve always tried to do, even now with the Medicaid packages that we have.\u00a0 We try to keep it as bare bones as possible, but try to take care of people in a way.<\/p>\n

Because the federal government is paying the major share of it, they control what we do, to a certain extent.\u00a0 They\u2019re constantly pushing to cover more and more.\u00a0 It\u2019s a constant thing.\u00a0 I would like to see as many people insured as possible, but it all costs money, and I don\u2019t see where the federal government is going to come up with the dollars.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Stepping back, what other issues should we be thinking about?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>I haven\u2019t been exposed to anything else big that\u2019s coming down.\u00a0 I will have a very different committee than what we\u2019ve had over the last few years.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got a lot of new people. Probably what we\u2019ll do the first week or two is try to get those people up to speed.<\/p>\n

Of course, the gorilla in the room is the budget.\u00a0 Where are we going to be and what are we going to do?\u00a0 Things look better, but they\u2019re far from being good.\u00a0 Far from being good.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited and shortened.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Gary Collins, a Republican from Nampa, heads the Revenue and Taxation Committee.\u00a0 It’s a powerful position, because all tax bills originate in the House.\u00a0 What’s more, there’s bound to be particular attention focused on the committee this session as the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, the state’s most powerful business lobby, pushes for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":14289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[210,214],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14281"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14317,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14281\/revisions\/14317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}