Tom,<br> <br> Thanks for the heads up. I want to state that I am emphatically opposed to the 20% increase in sales tax. I don't care what the cause or reason. Taxing food, OTC drugs, and daily essential items is unfair to the many poor people living in Idaho and Latah County. <br> <br> Think for a moment about the logic being used by the Idaho Legislature and acting governor. They overtaxed the people so much they have a surplus. So their solution is to enact a 20% increase in a regressive tax and give the benefits to the people that are going to benefit the least from the revenue. <br> <br> The logical solution here, just return the money you over collected back to the people you over collected it from, the homeowners. An average of a $500 return to the poorest 400,000 households (about 80% of homes) would be the just and noble thing to do. <br> <br> Best,<br> <br> _DJA<br><br><b><i>Tom Trail <ttrail@moscow.com></i></b> wrote:<blockquote
class="replbq" style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"> I received a call from Governor Risch's Office late today. He will make a<br>major announcement in Coeur d" Alene tomorrow. I suspect it will be to<br>announce that we will have special session on August 25th with the major<br>issue being discussed to be that of property taxes.<br><br>We hope that the Governor will fill in some of the details of the proposal.<br> From what I've heard it is almost the same proposal that was defeated toward<br>the end of the last session. The basic proposal appears to shift the<br>3 mil levy for school districts for M & O operations to be replaced by<br>a 1 % increase in the sales tax. This will still not be enough money to<br>replace the money needed for schools so about $40-$60 million is being<br>proposed to make up the difference from the $200 million surplus. One<br>must remember that this is only one time money, and the
legislature has<br>not been known for it's outstanding support for public education. The vast<br>majority of school districts are opposed to this ideas because it would<br>severely limit financial flexibility at the district level and also stability<br>that is provided under the current system.<br><br>The Idaho Tax Commission ran the figures on the proposal toward the end of the<br>last legislative session. The figures indicated that only 5% of <br>Idaho citizens<br>(those earning more than $90,000/year) would benefit from the proposal and<br>95% would not. The Tax Commission also pointed out that under the proposal<br>that as the income level went down then these citizens lost even more from<br>the proposal.<br><br>The proposal is aimed at helping some upper level value homeowners, business,<br>agriculture, forestry, and mining with property tax relief. One must remember<br>that businesses, industry, agriculture, forestry, and mining already receive<br>over 70 major
tax exemptions in Idaho totaling some $1.6 billion/year. These<br>exemptions shrink the stream of tax revenue flowing into the state and the<br>exemptions are in essence paid by the Idaho taxpayers. On another note<br>business, agriculture, and industry receive over $140 billion in U.S. tax<br>exemptions a year from the federal government.<br><br>I have very serious concerns that a proposal with no public hearings is<br>ready to be presented to the Legislature to approve in a one day special<br>session. Many of my concerns are:<br><br> 1. Is the proposal fair and equitable to all?<br> 2. What is the guarantee that if the shift to state funding is approved<br> that the state will continue to fund to the level that will replace<br> the 3 mil levy on school M & O?<br> 3. Don't we have other legislative priorities that may be even more<br> important that the property tax reform proposal?<br> 4. Shouldn't we take a look at reforming our
entire Idaho Tax Structure?<br> (this can only be done through a series of public hearings and<br> legislative debate and not in one day)<br><br>I proposed a major tax reform proposal last session (it got drowned out<br>in the flurry of 30 or more property tax bills). The idea was to tax<br>services except for health and medical services at the 4% level. The<br>elimination of several tax exemptions coupled with the taxing of services<br>would raise about $300,000,000 and we could still keep the sales tax at<br>5%. We could use these funds for tax relief, reduce the sales tax on<br>groceries, and further support education--all without disturbing our<br>present 3 mil level for M & O.<br><br>In addition, I have legislation drafted that proposes to form a citizens<br>commission working with Fiscal Management, the Governor's Office, and<br>the Legislature to form a Citizen's Tax Exemption Review Committee. None<br>of the 70 or more tax exemptions have been
reviewed since 1965. The<br>review process would need to take time over perhaps a three year period.<br>I would probably exclude production exemptions from the process. Citizens<br>of Idaho need to know if the tax exemption which is a privilege granted to<br>an organization is worth the benefit accured to the state. A tax exemption<br>is not a "right" as many organizations seem to think.<br><br>Rep. Tom Trail<br>-- <br>Dr. Tom Trail<br>International Trails<br>1375 Mt. View Rd.<br>Moscow, Id. 83843<br>Tel: (208) 882-6077<br>Fax: (208) 882-0896<br>e mail ttrail@moscow.com<br><br>=====================================================<br> List services made available by First Step Internet, <br> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994. <br> http://www.fsr.net <br> mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com<br>====================================================<br></blockquote><br><p> 
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