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Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Seeking to start a dialogue, Idaho legislator unveils local option tax proposal
Idaho state Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, speaks from the House floor at the State Capitol building on Jan. 23, 2024. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) An Idaho legislator is seeking the public's feedback on a new proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would give voters the power to approve a new local option sales and use tax. Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, sponsored House Joint Resolution 5 and a companion bill, House Bill 375. 'As we have heard over the course of our service here … there has been interest expressed from our local communities about having a more general local use tax made available,' Raybould said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A new local sales and use tax would be a new tax for specific products or services in a specific city or county that would be put forward for local voters to approve or deny. If voters approved a local sales and use tax, the tax would only be for specific products or services listed and only for local communities that vote to approve the new tax. The new tax would be in addition to the state's existing 6% sales tax. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted to introduce both bills on Thursday morning, and both bills are available to the public on the Idaho Legislature's website, or by clicking on the highlighted bill number near the beginning of this article. Raybould told legislators she isn't trying to pass House Joint Resolution 5 or House Bill 375 this year. Instead, Raybould said she put the proposals forward to circulate them publicly, gather feedback from Idahoans about her proposals and start a conversation. 'I want these ideas to be out there so that during the interim there can be ongoing conversations and proposals brought forward, because I felt that the time is ripe to resolve what this issue is going to look like going forward,' Raybould told legislators Thursday at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. CONTACT US House Joint Resolution 5 is a proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution that would ask Idaho voters to decide whether to give counties or municipalities the option to authorize a new local sales and use tax within its jurisdiction. Under the proposal, the maximum levy rate would be 2% and be limited to a maximum of four years. Even if statewide voters approve the proposed amendment to the Idaho Constitution, no sales and use tax could be imposed unless it was also approved by a majority of voters within the jurisdiction during an general election taking place in an even numbered year. Under the proposal, any proposed local option sales and use tax up for election would be required to include a detailed description of the product or services that would be subject to the tax, as well as a description of how the money collected through the new tax would be used. Raybould said a new local option sales and use tax might be appealing to Idaho cities or counties that experience an influx of tourists and want to establish a local sales and use tax that targets products or services related to tourism, but doesn't really affect local residents. 'For instance, if I wanted to have a tax on hotels, I could establish that for the purposes of this particular local option tax, that it would apply to nights spent in a hotel,' Raybould said. 'You have to have an intended purpose. This can't just be for general maintenance and operations, there would need to be a specific purpose outlined.' The bill also includes what Raybould described as a trade-off. If the proposed amendment passes, Raybould said it would phase out any existing sales or use taxes available to cities and counties, such as an auditorium district. According to the Idaho State Tax Commission, there are three existing auditorium districts in place in Idaho. Those auditorium districts include: The Greater Boise Auditorium District, or GBAD The Idaho Falls Auditorium District The Pocatello Auditorium District 'That would be the trade, essentially, is that for a local option tax with flexibility that you would do the trade off with, potentially, like an auditorium district,' Raybould said. Raybould said the idea is that the new local option sales and use tax would eventually replace auditorium districts if her proposals pass. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted to introduce Raybould's proposals, but several legislators had questions or concerns about phasing out existing auditorium districts. 'I do want to make sure that we really talk this through, because I'm not sure that something that could cause an auditorium district to go away or prevent other communities from creating one is in the best long term interests of the community,' said Rep. Steve Berch, a Boise Democrat who used to serve on the board of an auditorium district. Raybould said existing auditorium districts would be allowed to remain in place until their stated expiration date. 'Whatever date exists on an existing auditorium district, they would be able to continue through the end of that period, but going forward the formation of any new district, assuming the amendment passed, would no longer be supported under the combination of these two bills,' Raybould said. Introducing House Joint Resolution 5 and House Bill 375 clears the way for both proposals to return to the House Revenue and Taxations Committee for full public hearing. However, neither proposal is expected to pass this legislative session. 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Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Idaho excise tax bill goes ‘gangster' on wind farm projects
A wind farm in Power County, Idaho, is depicted in this file photo. (Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy) The Idaho Legislature's House Revenue and Taxation Committee introduced a new bill Monday that goes 'gangster' on wind energy projects in Idaho. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Monday voted unanimously to introduce House Bill 317, which lays out a path to create and collect a new excise tax on commercial wind turbines in Idaho. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX If passed into law, the bill requires county commissioners to prepare a ballot question for voters in the county where a new commercial wind project would be built. If a majority of county voters do not approve the proposed wind farm at the next election, county commissioners are required to immediately enact an ordinance establishing a new countywide excise tax on commercial wind turbines. An excise tax is imposed on certain goods, services and activities, according to the Internal Revenue Service. People that pay excise taxes include importers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers, and costs can vary depending on the specific tax. During the bill's introductory hearing at the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, Republican Rep. Ted Hill of Eagle asked the question on everyone's mind. 'How big is that excise tax?' Hill asked. 'Are we going to go gangster on it and really make it hardcore? That's what we want to hear.' The answer was yes. The tax would be equal to $25,000 for every foot of height for any commercial wind turbine with a minimum height of 100 feet. That means developers of a commercial wind farm would have to pay a $2.5 million excise tax for every 100-foot-tall wind turbine that is included in a project. CONTACT US The bill defines height as the distance measured from the base of the turbine to the highest point of the blade at its maximum vertical position. Many wind farms include dozens or hundreds of turbines. For context, the proposed Lava Ridge Wind Project outside of Twin Falls would include 231 turbines with a maximum height limit of 660 feet for turbines. If each of the 231 Lava Ridge turbines was built exactly 100 feet high, the excise tax would be $577,500,000. If the turbines were each 600 feet high, the tax would be nearly $3.5 billion. 'For the benefit of the committee, that qualifies as 'gangster' in the eyes of the chairman,' Chairman David Cannon, R-Blackfoot, said. Money collected from the new excise tax would be used to pay for tax refunds authorized by the Idaho State Tax Commission, as well as a fund to pay for school district facilities. Rep. Jeff Ehlers, a Republican from Meridian, sponsored the bill. Ehlers told legislators he chose the mechanism of an excise tax because the tax could still be collected if a wind farm was built on federal public lands. Rep. Steve Berch, D-Boise, voted to introduce the new bill but expressed concern with how far the bill goes. 'I must say that I'm concerned about the notion of taxing the free market out of the ability to do things that are legal, and I'm concerned about the precedents that this might set in other areas as well,' Berch said Monday. Rep. Charlie Shepherd, a Republican from Pollock who made a motion to introduce the bill said, 'We've never seen anything like it before.' Monday's hearing was only an introductory hearing, which does not include public testimony> Introducing House Bill 317 clears the way for it to return to the House Revenue and Taxation Committee for a full public hearing. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Idaho Legislature introduces new property tax reduction bill
The rotunda at the Idaho Capitol in Boise on Jan.17, 2022. (Otto Kitsinger for Idaho Capital Sun) House Speaker Mike Moyle is sponsoring a new bill in the Idaho Legislature that seeks to reduce property taxes. On Monday, Moyle, R-Star, unveiled House Bill 74 in the House Revenue and Taxation Committee. If passed into law, Moyle's new bill would send $50 million a year annually – ongoing – to the state's school district facilities fund to help local schools pay for a portion of new buildings and school renovations that would be paid for using property taxes. The bill also takes another $50 million in one-time funding and transfers it to the state's homeowners property tax relief fund to reduce property taxes for homeowners. In a series of polls and public policy surveys, Idahoans have consistently said the cost of housing and property taxes are among their top issues for the Idaho Legislature to address. 'There's more to do in property tax relief, but this is a start to get us there,' Moyle said. Although the Idaho Legislature does not receive or spend money collected from Idaho property taxes, school districts and local governments do. Property taxes pay for school operations and school construction; police, fire and emergency services; libraries; sewers; highways; weed control and more. Moyle told the House Revenue and Taxation Committee that cutting taxes is part of his strategy to reduce government spending. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX This is the third bill aimed at cutting different types of taxes that the Idaho Legislature has introduced in recent days. On Thursday, the House Revenue and Taxation Committee introduced House Bill 40, which would reduce Idaho's corporate and individual income tax rates from 5.695% to 5.3%. House Bill 40 also eliminates the capital gains tax for selling gold and silver and expands the income tax exemption to military pensions. Idaho Legislature introduces bill to reduce income taxes On Monday, the House Revenue and Taxation Committee introduced House Bill 61, which would increase the sales tax credit on groceries for Idaho taxpayers from $120 a year to $155. 'We try to touch on each of the three tax types and provide relief across the board,' Moyle said Tuesday. The fiscal notes attached to the three recent tax cut bills total $403 million in reductions to state revenues if all three bills are passed into law. That's more than four times the $100 million in tax cuts that Gov. Brad Little proposed in conjunction with his Jan. 6 State of the State address. Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, supported introducing Moyle's latest tax cut bill Tuesday, but he wondered if the state can afford the revenue reductions that would come from passing all three tax cuts, plus additional state funding from proposed bills that would allow Idaho families to be reimbursed or receive a tax refund for tuition or fees at private schools or private religious schools. 'I do think that we need to be careful,' Gannon said. Introducing House Bill 74 clears the way for the bill to return to the House Revenue and Taxation Committee for a full public hearing at an unspecified later date. The House Revenue and Taxation Committee will not be accepting remote, virtual testimony this year, Chairman David Cannon, R-Blackfoot, said Monday. Idahoans who are not able to travel to the Idaho State Capitol in Boise, may send emailed testimony to the committee by sending an email to hrev@ by 4 p.m. the day before a public hearing on a bill. Cannon said emails should include email testimony in the subject line, include the person's full name, the legislative district they live in, any groups or organizations they represent, the bill number they would like to provide written testimony over and whether they support or oppose the bill, followed by their written testimony. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
