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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Rusche tries to call online sales tax bill out of Ways & Means, move falls short

House Minority Leader John Rusche, D-Lewiston, tried a parliamentary maneuver in the House today to pull HB 57, the streamlined sales tax bill, out of the House Ways & Means Committee, where House Speaker Lawerence Denney has sent it to die without a hearing. "This bill does not obligate any change in our tax policy," Rusche told the House. "It merely allows us to participate in this project. It's something that I think is good for us, good for our Main Street businesses, and I think something that's desired by the citizens of the state." Rusche said he wanted to "call for a full debate here, in front of the body." Rep. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, spoke in favor of the motion, saying Idaho already has a law requiring people to report and pay sales and use tax on their catalog or online purchases; if Idaho could be a part of a national movement to allow sales taxes to be collected on Internet sales, it could eliminate that poorly enforced law, he said.

No one testified against the motion, though Rep. Julie Ellsworth, R-Boise, objected to Burgoyne's testimony, saying he was addressing the merits of the bill, not the motion to pull it from Ways & Means. Denney upheld her objection. The motion then died on a 15-54 vote - notably, not a straight party-line vote, as there are only 13 Democrats in the House.
 



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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