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<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Here's another excellent editorial from Trillhaase
at the Tribune.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Remember this when the Republicans say the only way
is to cut schools and other basic services.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Remember this when the Republicans say they
hate waste and love the unfettered free enterprise system -- while supporting
welfare for the rich by ignoring the options Trillhaase suggests.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>BL</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2
face=Arial>----------------------------------------- </FONT></DIV>
<DIV>
<H1>Idaho's governor can choose a third way</H1>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Lewiston Tribune</FONT></DIV>
<P>Marty Trillhaase<BR>January 10, 2010</P>
<P>Monday, Gov. C. L. (Butch) Otter will outline a budget that offers Idahoans a
bleak choice:</P>
<P>Hack away some more at schools, colleges and universities, health care
programs and basic government services.</P>
<P>Or raise some cash.</P>
<P>With the economy in a tailspin last year, lawmakers cut $400 million from the
budget.</P>
<P>Then the unprecedented happened. State tax revenues fell for the second time
in a row. Even with another round of budget holdbacks last fall, Idaho's
spending is unsustainable. </P>
<P>It's propped up with one-time federal stimulus and reserve dollars. </P>
<P>Looking a year ahead, the governor and Legislature can spend every dollar in
the bank and still wind up an estimated $100 million to $175 million short.</P>
<P>Idaho's conservative governor has ruled out a tax increase.</P>
<P>But he owes Idahoans another option, one that just happens to be consistent
with his governing philosophy.</P>
<P>Otter doesn't like taxes. But he supports user fees.</P>
<P>Most citizens pay taxes, regardless of whether they use the programs those
taxes support. For example, a childless couple pays income, sales and property
taxes that will pay to educate children from other families.</P>
<P>When someone pays a user fee, he can reasonably expect something in return. A
motorist pays fuel taxes, which then provide him with highways and bridges.</P>
<P>On those grounds, Otter last year unsuccessfully sought to increase higher
fuel taxes and registration fees to pay for needed highway and bridge
improvements and repairs.</P>
<P>What about the reverse when programs that ought to rely on user fees instead
draw from general tax dollars? Scattered through state government are programs
that serve a select few but are subsidized by the rest of us:</P>
<P>l The state owns 157 cottage sites at Payette Lake and 354 lots at Priest
Lake. Collectively, they're worth $252 million. The people who rent these sites
for vacation homes pay $4.3 million. They should be paying $8.3 million to $15.7
million more. Split the difference and impose a $12 million surcharge.</P>
<P>l Even after two rounds of budget cuts, the taxpayer still spends $24 million
providing the state's agriculture industry with research and extension. Assess a
surcharge or user fee to pay for it. </P>
<P>l Disband the state Department of Environmental Quality and the nation's
clean air and water laws would be enforced in Idaho - by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. Idaho businesses prefer working with DEQ. But they fall about
$14 million short of covering the program's full cost. Increased fees would make
up the difference.</P>
<P>l Irrigators use 85 percent of the water in this state. They pay about a
third of the cost of administering water rights and resolving water conflicts.
Taxpayers provide $12 million. There's also talk of asking taxpayers to kick in
another $3 million toward recharging the East Snake Plain Aquifer as a way to
help resolve disputes between southern Idaho farmers who draw water from a canal
and those who pump it from a well. Why not impose higher water user fees and
free up $15 million?</P>
<P>l The people who frequent Idaho's 29 state park sites fall about $6.3 million
short of covering their costs. Raise fees, seek more support from the federal
government and mothball some parks.</P>
<P>l Every year, anywhere from $250 million to $399 million in taxes go
uncollected. Invest $10 million in new collectors, auditors and financial staff,
and the State Tax Commission will net $64.5 million.</P>
<P>l Just joining a national campaign aimed at empowering the 45 states that
impose sales taxes to collect taxes on Internet and catalog purchases could net
Idaho $3 million - and 20 times that amount when Congress takes action.</P>
<P>l Adopt the one tax increase Otter has entertained - delaying for a year the
next installment in Idaho's phased in grocery sales tax credit. That's worth
another $15.5 million.</P>
<P>Add it up and you have $154 million.</P>
<P>If the governor still insists on cutting schools, it's because he wants to -
not because he has to. - M.T.</P></DIV></BODY></HTML>