[Vision2020] Idaho's budget - Governor visits Latah County

Wed Sep 23 17:01:00 PDT 2009

Rep. Ringo and others,

This is my suggestion;

Suggest to Governor Otter that we use state reserve funds to hire a small army of accountants from the long unemployment lines, to thumb through the last five years of tax returns and collect unpaid taxes, starting first with large out of state based corporations, like Wal-Wart. This could generate tens of millions of dollars for the state. 

Suggest to the Governor, that all revenues would go to four things.

1) 50% to his roads projects.
2) 40% to offset education budget shortfalls
3) Tax breaks to corportations and industutries that want to move to Idaho and provide jobs here and now.
4) To pay the salaries for the temporary accountants you hired to find and retrieve uncollected taxes. 

When the the accountants are done finding state taxes that were unpaid, they can look to each county for unpaid taxes to local county and school districts. 

This plan would please the Governor because he gets his road improvements. Provide revenue for each school district, each county, and create new jobs while not increasing taxes or adding to the revenue shortfalls. 

Anybody that voted against the plan would be turning down funding for their county and school district which they represent. The argument that collecting taxes owed by the state reduces the likelihood of new businesses wanting to enter Idaho would be overshadowed by the argument that a portion of the revenue collected would be going to tax breaks to new corportations to enter Idaho that would provide employment that would be also taxed. 

For the Governor or senior legislatures to argue that we should not collect unpaid taxes by wealthy individuals and corportations would not sit well with the suffering unemployed public right now.

A second IDEA. Consider offering the taxpayer an opition of paying their taxes early in exchange for a reduced tax rate. This would boost state revenue now and help stimulate the economy. If taxes are collected early, it is also more easy to create a more accurate budget so government departments don't have to hold back so much of their budgets till the end of the fiscal year. The 5-10% hold back can really mess up some departments..  

Those are my thoughts. 

Your Friend,

Donovan Arnold

--- On Wed, 9/23/09, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:

From: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Idaho's budget - Governor visits Latah County
To: "Bookpeople of Moscow" <Bookpeople at moscow.com>, "Sue Hovey" <suehovey at moscow.com>, "Shirley Ringo" <ringoshirl at moscow.com>, vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 10:48 PM

Go to flat tax with no exemptions.
Roger
-----Original message-----
From: "Bookpeople of Moscow" Bookpeople at moscow.com
Date: Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:14:25 -0700
To: "Sue Hovey" suehovey at moscow.com,  "Shirley Ringo" ringoshirl at moscow.com, vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Idaho's budget - Governor visits Latah County

> I'm with you Sue!
> 
> Betsy Dickow
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: Sue Hovey 
>   To: Shirley Ringo ; vision2020 at moscow.com 
>   Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2009 10:39 AM
>   Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Idaho's budget - Governor visits Latah County
> 
> 
>   Shirl,  isn't it time to look at the multitudes of exemptions and possibly repeal all of them, particularly services (sure, protect funeral services if you have to, since some folks appear to feel taxing death rites is somehow unbiblical.)  
> 
>   Sue Hovey  
>     ----- Original Message ----- 
>     From: Shirley Ringo 
>     To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
>     Sent: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 9:55 AM
>     Subject: [Vision2020] Idaho's budget - Governor visits Latah County
> 
> 
>     Visionaries:
>     You have read about Idaho's revenue shortfalls.  Governor Otter has asked agency directors to tell what cuts they would make in the event of a budget holdback.  He has asked them to be clear about how their programs would be affected.
> 
>     On Wednesday, September 16, I attended a meeting in which the Governor discussed issues related to the budget.   The dollar amounts for holdbacks of 6% and 3% for each agency were provided.  Governor Otter has indicated that he will not consider a tax increase.  He has expressed a willingness to recommend using approximately half of remaining reserve funds, but significant holdbacks would still be necessary.
> 
>     Budgets set in the most recent legislative session can be described as austere.  It might be noted that leaders in other states are considering ideas such as an income tax surcharge on individuals with higher incomes to gain revenue to protect vital programs.
> 
>     In 2008, the Grocery Tax Credit was increased to $30/person for some, $50 for others.  (More for those of age 65 or older.)  These amounts are to increase by $10 per year until they reach the amount of $100 per person.  The cost of that increase for next year is about $15.5 million dollars.  There have been discussions about freezing the buildup of the grocery tax credit until state revenues are stronger.  (Governor Otter has not said he would support such a move. ) 
> 
>     In 2006, a majority of legislators voted to shift mandatory property tax support for public schools to the general funds.  This requires public schools to compete with other entities for those monies.  At the time, the promise was to "protect education" by raising the sales tax from 5% to 6%.  The notion of increasing the grocery tax credit helps those who would struggle with the regressive sales tax.  The cost of the higher grocery tax credit erodes about half of the state revenue gained by raising the sales tax to protect education.  
> 
>     What would you recommend to handle the revenue shortfall?  Further reductions of agency budgets, including K-12 and higher education?  Use all or part of the reserve funds?  Find ways to increase revenue?  A combination of these ideas?
> 
>     Governor Otter will be in Kendrick tomorrow (September 23) from 9 AM to 3 PM.  He will be at the Kendrick fire station - adjacent to the city park.  This is your opportunity to voice your opinion directly to him.
> 
>     Shirley Ringo (883-1005, 301-2272)
> 
>     Please contact me if you have questions.
> 
>      
> 
> 
> 
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List services made available by First Step Internet, 
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
               http://www.fsr.net                       
          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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