{"id":14513,"date":"2013-01-07T17:00:34","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T00:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/?p=14513"},"modified":"2013-01-07T17:34:02","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T00:34:02","slug":"gov-otter-rejects-medicaid-expansion-supports-personal-property-tax-repeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/2013\/01\/07\/gov-otter-rejects-medicaid-expansion-supports-personal-property-tax-repeal\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Otter Rejects Medicaid Expansion, Supports Personal Property Tax Repeal"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Aaron Kunz \/ Boise State Public Radio<\/p>

Gov. Otter delivered his State of the State and Budget Address this afternoon.<\/p><\/div>\n

Today, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter told lawmakers and the public<\/a> that he wants to repeal the state’s tax on business personal property<\/a>, which generates roughly $140 million for local government each year.\u00a0 He also said he does not support an expansion of Medicaid eligibility<\/a> in Idaho, at least not at this time.\u00a0 StateImpact<\/em> talked through those two significant policy points with Boise State Public Radio host Samantha Wright.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 Here’s the full transcript:<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Let\u2019s get right into it and start with the personal property tax.\u00a0 First of all remind us what this is.<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>Sure.\u00a0 This is Idaho\u2019s tax on business personal property.\u00a0 It\u2019s a tax on all of the tangible things that businesses use to go about their business.\u00a0 That means it\u2019s a tax on everything from desks and chairs to computers and large, complex machinery.<\/p>\n

Most states in the U.S. do have this tax, but there\u2019s been a lot of criticism of it here in Idaho.\u00a0 One of the problems with doing away with it is that money generated by this tax goes to local government.\u00a0 So local governments have cried foul about losing what is, for them, a substantial revenue source.\u00a0 The personal property tax brings in about $140 million dollars each year.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>What did Governor Otter say the state should do?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>He didn\u2019t tell lawmakers how<\/em> to get rid of it.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t say whether they should get rid of it all at once, or phase it out.\u00a0 What he did<\/em> say is that he\u2019s set aside $20 million in his budget to \u2013 as he puts it \u2013 ease the transition.\u00a0 And the governor had something more to say.\u00a0 I think we have some tape on that.<\/p>\n

Gov. Otter: My preference is for granting local-option taxing authority that will enable county voters to decide for themselves how to address their most pressing needs.<\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019s proposing to let cities and counties levy taxes.\u00a0 That\u2019s a pretty big deal, because the legislature has come down against local-option taxing authority in the past.\u00a0 I talked to Dan Chadwick, who heads the Idaho Association of Counties.\u00a0 He says that was definitely an olive branch.\u00a0 He also said that the 20 million dollars that the governor wants to make available is good news.\u00a0 It makes him hopeful that the state could begin to phase out the tax without doing a lot of harm to local government.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>What about the Medicaid expansion?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: <\/span>On the Medicaid expansion, there\u2019s some background information to remember here.\u00a0 An expanded Medicaid program was originally part of the federal Affordable Care Act.\u00a0 But when the Supreme Court ruled on Obamacare in June, it told states they could decide whether or not to opt into the expansion.\u00a0 Governor Otter is saying the state should not opt in, at least not at this time.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>How many people would the expansion cover?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: <\/span>The expansion would give health care to about 100,000 low-income adults in Idaho.\u00a0 It would cover people who live at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty level and who don\u2019t currently qualify for Medicaid.\u00a0 In other words, it would be a significant expansion of Idaho\u2019s Medicaid rolls.\u00a0 But the lion\u2019s share of the costs would be paid by the federal government.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Now, there\u2019s been some discussion about whether the state might actually save<\/em> money through the Medicaid expansion, is that right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A: <\/span>That\u2019s right.\u00a0 A consulting group hired by the Department of Health and Welfare says the Medicaid expansion would allow state and county government to spend less on the Catastrophic Health Care Fund.\u00a0 Right now that fund eats up about $40 million dollars in state revenue each year.<\/p>\n

Not long ago, a working group appointed by the governor unanimously supported expanding Medicaid eligibility.\u00a0 So it\u2019s a little bit of a surprise that the governor has come out strongly against it.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>What does he say the state should do?<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>The governor is asking Department of Health and Welfare Director Armstrong to help create a plan for changing Idaho\u2019s Medicaid system.\u00a0 He also mentions that the state doesn\u2019t face an immediate federal deadline with respect to Medicaid.\u00a0 I think we\u2019ll have to wait and see just what all of that means.<\/p>\n

Q: <\/span>Molly, thanks for joining us.<\/p>\n

A: <\/span>You bet, Sam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter told lawmakers and the public that he wants to repeal the state’s tax on business personal property, which generates roughly $140 million for local government each year.\u00a0 He also said he does not support an expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Idaho, at least not at this time.\u00a0 StateImpact talked through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":14524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[210,27,65,214],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14513"}],"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=14513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/idaho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}