‘Not at the head of their class’

Senate Tax Chairman Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, is explaining to lawmakers this morning how the tax changes in the federal stimulus bill affect Idaho’s state tax revenues. In his lead-in, he read a long and entirely incomprehensible passage from the law to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. At the end, there was laughter, and Senate Finance Chairman Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, said, “You had me at ‘whereas.’ ” Said Hill, “The people who wrote this were not at the top of their class.” He then proceeded to a bit of “Income Tax 101” before sharing details of the changes.