It started simply enough: Let’s form a group of legislators to look at Idaho’s tax system and have them come back with some ideas for reforming it that could pass both the House and Senate.
Opinions on what needs to be done, however, are proving difficult to rope into one cohesive plan, as was demonstrated at the last meeting of the Tax Working Group when Sen. Steve Vick accused Commerce Secretary Jeff Sayer of changing his tune. Others at the meeting wonder if leaving well enough alone might be the best strategy of all.
The group’s first task is to recommend whether or not Idaho’s top personal income tax rate should be lowered from 7.4 percent to 6.7 percent in order to make the state attractive for entrepreneurs looking to set up shop. The vast majority of small-business owners file their taxes at the personal rates, not the corporate rates, so this issue is of no small importance.
But another issue on the agenda of the Tax Working Group’s October 14 meeting has really raised the eyebrows of Main Street enterprises: Raising the exemption on the business personal property from its current $100,000 to either $250,000 or $500,000 or even $1 million.
NFIB has long lobbied for elimination of the business personal property tax altogether, but short of that is supportive of boosting exemption levels as high as possible. No hopes can be raised, however, without some being dashed. The group is also looking at extending the sales tax to services.
Nothing the Tax Working Group comes up with will become law, but its ideas will be put before the Legislature when it reconvenes for business in January in hopes that any changes to Idaho’s tax system might be expedited. NFIB is closely monitoring the group’s work.
The next meeting of the Tax Working Group is October 14 in the State Capitol, followed by a November 3 meeting. Click here for a report on the first meeting of the group on September 17 and here for its October 6 meeting, provided by journalist Betsy Russell of the Spokane Spokesman-Review.
