<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">Rep. Trail.<br><br>What are the chances of the 5 cent tax increase on fuel passing?<br><br>Thanks,<br><br>Donovan<br><br>--- On <b>Fri, 2/13/09, ttrail@moscow.com <i><ttrail@moscow.com></i></b> wrote:<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;">From: ttrail@moscow.com <ttrail@moscow.com><br>Subject: [Vision2020] Legislative Update 5 from Rep. Trail<br>To: vision2020@moscow.com<br>Date: Friday, February 13, 2009, 3:52 PM<br><br><pre> LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER V--February 7-13/2009<br><br>Constituents:<br><br> As we near the midpoint of the 2009 Legislative Session, the economy <br>and negative impact on budgets is by far the major topics of discussion. <br>Rather than dwell in this newsletter on those two topics, I am going to <br>report on some other issues of interest being reviewed in the
legislative <br>process. On the lighter side, I asked President Griffin, of the College <br>of Western Idaho, about their football team and congratulated him on <br>their not losing a game yet. Of course, they don't have a football team <br>yet, but he did say they have a name of their teams -- the Fighting <br>Otters (Could it be pandering to the Governor). I guess the Fighting <br>Otters is a better than the Banana Slugs -- (University of California <br>Santa-Cruz).<br><br> 1. Latah County Soil Conservation District -- Cody Anderson, a <br>supervisor for Latah County Soil Conservation District visited Boise and <br>sat in on a report by the Idaho Soil Conservation Office and State <br>Association in both the Senate and House Ag Committees. There have <br>been problems between the Soil Conservation Districts and the Idaho Soil <br>Conservation Commission. One of the major problems was the release by <br>the Commission of
personal/private data (social security, bank account <br>numbers, tax numbers, etc.) posted on their website. I've drafted two <br>pieces of legislation stemming from this incident that would strive to <br>more firmly protect Idaho citizens from the misuse of their private <br>information by state agencies and their employees.<br><br> 2. Personal Business Property Tax--The Idaho Association of Commerce <br>and Industry wants to make "operating property" eligible for the tax <br>break which exempts the first $100,000 of business equipment from taxes. <br>The IACI wants the exemption extended to power lines and railroads. <br>However, it will take years before the $100,000 exemption takes effect <br>because the measure also requires tax revenues to rise by 5 percent from <br>2008 collections to trigger the exemption. This will not happen soon <br>because of the economic slump.<br><br> 3. Consolidated Elections -- Key legislators are pushing
to cut <br>elections to just four dates annually. In this version, school <br>elections could be in March and August and other elections in May and <br>November. Our Latah County Clerk and Commissioners are not supportive of <br>the legislation unless there is state money coming in to help the County <br>Clerk and her staff with the expanded work load. I see no chance of <br>this and since it would put an added tax burden on our local citizens, I <br>will vote against it.<br><br> 4. Grocery Tax Credit -- Last year the Legislature passed <br>legislation which approved the grocery tax credit. Personally I don't <br>think we should delay the increase in the grocery tax credit -- which <br>would give the state nearly $15 million more in revenue. I feel that we <br>made a commitment as legislators and should honor this commitment. The <br>grocery tax credit provides a course for eventually eliminating the tax. <br>In short, the bill provides
a $50 credit for the most needy and $30 for <br>all other Idahoans. The tax credit goes up by increments of $10/yr until <br>it reaches $100. The credit is an exclusive benefit for Idahoans. <br>Tourists and visitors will continue to pay the sales tax.<br><br> 5. I continue to shake my head in wonderment as we look for <br>additional revenues. In the Boise Statesman this week a report outlined <br>that many part time auditor positions were being eliminated from the <br>Idaho Tax Commission. The cost of the positions was about $1 million <br>and that the auditors brought in about $7 million in unpaid taxes -- <br>for a net gain to the state fund of $6 million. We also lose about $4 <br>million a year in federal highways funds because we do not have a helmet <br>required law for motorcyclists. A review of all of the 75 tax <br>exemptions we have to see if they do or do not provide a benefit to the <br>state might reveal that some exemptions
do not benefit the state. The <br>elimination of these exemptions would contribute more money to the State <br>General Fund.<br><br> 6 Japanese Banks -- Japanese banks have been hit almost as hard by <br>the economic downturn as American banks. The Origami Bank has folded; <br>and we hear the Sumo Bank has gone belly-up too. The Bonsai Bank plans <br>to cut some of its branches. The Karaoke Bank is for sale and is going <br>for a song. Meanwhile the staff at the Karate Bank got the chop and <br>analysts report there something fishy going on at the Sushi Ban where <br>workers think they may get a raw deal.<br><br> Again, I welcome constituent ideas, opinion, suggestions, and <br>recommendations.<br>My phone is (208) 332-1184 and e mail ttrail@house.idaho.gov<br> Representative Tom Trail<br><br><br>---------------------------------------------<br>This message was sent by First Step Internet.<br>
http://www.fsr.com/<br><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></pre></blockquote></td></tr></table><br>