[Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter 11, March 20-24

[Donovan Arnold]

Roger,
  
 I believe that Idaho should eliminate tax on food and  to make up for the lost revenue it should create a tax on services and  raise the current sales tax from 5 cents to 6 cents. 
  
 Sales  tax is a regressive tax. Although the wealthy do buy more items, a  smaller percentage of their income in spent on food, groceries and  consumables then wealthier families that spend a larger portion of  their income on services, such as housekeeping, salon and beauty, tax  services etc. 
  
 Home owners should be guaranteed that the  property tax on their home will not  increase any more than 5% per  year on their first home regardless of the increase in the value of the  home. 
  
  Corporate income taxes should be raised and the amount collected given to support job skills education and training.
  
  _DJA

lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:  

Cynthia
I  would agree that the rate of assessed value should be restricted. I am  not so sure sales tax is regressive as it is a consumption tax and the  people with the most money spent more. Some relief for low income  people should be addressed. This could be done by excluding some of the  basic staples from a sales tax. Another method might be a card issued  to low income people that they could present at the store in order to  not pay tax on food items. This might be cumbersome and subject to  abuse. No system will be perfect.


Roger

-----Original message-----
From: cynthia nichols cynthiann0 at mac.com
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 09:26:42 -0800
To: ttrail at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter 11, March 20-24

> 
> On Mar 25, 2006, at 6:26 AM, ttrail at moscow.com wrote:
> 
> >   The major property tax relief measure which passed the House would
> >  increase the sales tax by ½ cent to replace 0.15% of the property tax
> >  for school M & O. This would still leave a gap of about $35  
> > million to
> >  come up with, and there are serious doubts of the state's commitment
> >  to maintain this funding.  Other measures discussed in the Senate  
> > relate
> >  to increasing the sales tax to 1 cent and replacing all of the M &  
> > O.  It
> >  will be interesting to see how this plays out.
> 
> My concern is that at least property taxes are tax deductible from my  
> federal taxes. Sales tax is not. This doesn't seem like relief to  
> me!! Since sales tax is regressive, it just shifts the burden to  
> those who are least able to pay (especially since food is taxed too).  
> We need an initiative (like Prop 13 in California) which  further  
> limits the annual property tax rate increase. It should also freeze  
> the property's  assessed valuation until the property is sold (after  
> all, my property is not worth more to me until I can sell it for a  
> higher price).
> If the legislature can't do it, shouldn't we do it for them? Is  
> anything like this in the works in Idaho?
> 
> cynthia nichols
> Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 09:52:54 -0800
From: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
To: "cynthia nichols" <cynthiann0 at mac.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter 11, March 20-24

  Cynthia
I  would agree that the rate of assessed value should be restricted. I am  not so sure sales tax is regressive as it is a consumption tax and the  people with the most money spent more. Some relief for low income  people should be addressed. This could be done by excluding some of the  basic staples from a sales tax. Another method might be a card issued  to low income people that they could present at the store in order to  not pay tax on food items. This might be cumbersome and subject to  abuse. No system will be perfect.


Roger

-----Original message-----
From: cynthia nichols cynthiann0 at mac.com
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 09:26:42 -0800
To: ttrail at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Legislative Newsletter 11, March 20-24

> 
> On Mar 25, 2006, at 6:26 AM, ttrail at moscow.com wrote:
> 
> >   The major property tax relief measure which passed the House would
> >  increase the sales tax by ½ cent to replace 0.15% of the property tax
> >  for school M & O. This would still leave a gap of about $35  
> > million to
> >  come up with, and there are serious doubts of the state's commitment
> >  to maintain this funding.  Other measures discussed in the Senate  
> > relate
> >  to increasing the sales tax to 1 cent and replacing all of the M &  
> > O.  It
> >  will be interesting to see how this plays out.
> 
> My concern is that at least property taxes are tax deductible from my  
> federal taxes. Sales tax is not. This doesn't seem like relief to  
> me!! Since sales tax is regressive, it just shifts the burden to  
> those who are least able to pay (especially since food is taxed too).  
> We need an initiative (like Prop 13 in California) which  further  
> limits the annual property tax rate increase. It should also freeze  
> the property's  assessed valuation until the property is sold (after  
> all, my property is not worth more to me until I can sell it for a  
> higher price).
> If the legislature can't do it, shouldn't we do it for them? Is  
> anything like this in the works in Idaho?
> 
> cynthia nichols
>_____________________________________________________
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