[Vision2020] Republicans to Idaho's Poor: Leave or Drop Dead

[Tom Hansen]

>From Thursday's (March 30, 2006) Lewiston Tribune with a special thanks to
Tom Henderson.

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Republicans to Idaho's poor: Leave or drop dead
By Tom Henderson

The Idaho Legislature has a brilliant strategy for eliminating poverty in
the state: Eliminate the poor. 

At $5.15 per hour, Idaho's minimum-wage earners can't last much longer. They
could move somewhere like Washington (where the minimum wage is $7.63) or
Oregon (where the minimum wage is $7.50). 

Or they could just die. Poverty knocks about 10 years off a person's life.
So if the Legislature waits long enough, the current crop of poor people
will die sooner rather than later. 

At least the economy will be spared the pressure of people feeding
themselves. 

Republicans sat and nodded their heads as they listened to the Minimum Wage
Blues. Unfortunately, it was sung by businesses. They wailed the same old
tune about higher prices and increased unemployment. 

Oh, come on. 

Idaho's minimum wage is tied for lowest in the nation. The bill before the
Legislature would have raised it only by a buck an hour. The bill also
indexed future increases to inflation. Even so, Idaho would have a long way
to go before catching up with Washington and Oregon. 

But it was too much for members of the Republican-controlled House State
Affairs Committee to bear. They promptly killed the bill. Idahoans can
forget about those annoying poor people for another year. 

Unless they happen to be among those annoying poor people. 

There's a good possibility of that. At least 29 percent of Idaho's young
adults live in poverty, according to www.idahofoodbank.com. Forty-two
percent of Idaho's children live in low-income working families. (Idaho
ranks 45th in the country.) Twenty-three percent of Idaho's children have no
parent with a full-time, year-round job. 

The Legislature doesn't care, as long as the poor and their children stay
out of sight. 

In 2000, the Legislature ordered the governor to minimize or, if legally
possible, eliminate efforts to connect eligible poor people with public
benefits -- such as food stamps and the Children's Health Insurance Program.


The 2002 Legislature reiterated its hostility to the poor getting any kind
of assistance. 

Rep. Steve Smylie, R-Boise, says people making Idaho's pitiful minimum wage
can always get other jobs. Find decent wages with minimum-wage skills in a
limited marketplace? Try it sometime. 

However, you had better try it someplace other than Idaho. The Legislature
has made it clear: The poor will get nothing in this state except
indifference.

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What Idaho needs are jobs that pay a living wage, jobs that offer careers,
and wages that put food on dinner tables, not sub-minimum wages that only
serve to fatten the corporate bottom line.

If you truly want to know why people are not attracted to Moscow, look at
wage scales, look at the property tax burden that increases with every
gift-wrapped conditional use permit awarded to tax-exempt entities in the
central business district.

Wake up, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho


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And why shouldn't the rich pay taxes?

"The people that write laws are greedy.  They need money to buy votes.  What
better way to get it than to extract it, by force of law, from the
relatively few who can afford the nicer things in life.  If you can buy
something nice then you can pay more taxes so that politicians can give
something to the 'poor' and take a cut for themselves."
 
- Varnel W. (March 20, 2006)

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