Some history on Idaho’s ‘50-50’ homeowner’s exemption, enacted by initiative in 1982…

An interesting little bit of history in relation to the bill this session to remove the inflation indexing from Idaho’s homeowner’s exemption: Idaho first got the homeowner’s exemption in 1982 by voter initiative. At that time, it exempted 50 percent of the value of the home, not including land, up to a maximum of $50,000; it wasn’t just for owner-occupied homes, and also covered rentals and second homes. The initiative passed with 56.5 percent in support and 43.5 percent opposed, after years of outcry over a property tax burden that was fast shifting onto residential property and away from all other types of property.

The next year, lawmakers tried to cut the popular voter-enacted “50-50” exemption down to a maximum of $15,000, but then-Gov. John Evans vetoed the bill, according to a history compiled by former Sen. Ken Robison, D-Boise, who helped lead the initiative effort. Then, a compromise emerged: Legislation to limit the exemption just to owner-occupied homes, eliminating it for rentals and vacation homes. Robison wrote that supporters of the initiative opposed the change, but recognized “that it may be a necessary price to pay to save the initiative for homeowners.”

In 1986, the Idaho Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the homeowner’s exemption, ruling that it’s in compliance with the Idaho Constitution. In the Bonneville County case, Simmons v. Idaho State Tax Commission , the justices ruled that “the exemption does further legitimate state interests, such as fostering home ownership and equalizing the tax burden between residential and business properties.”

The next year, then-Reps. Mike Simpson, R-Blackfoot, and Dean Haagenson, R-Coeur d’Alene, introduced legislation to repeal the homeowner’s exemption. There was an outcry led by the Idaho Senior Lobby; the bill died without a hearing. You can read Robison’s extensive legislative history of the issue here ; it stretches from 1965 to 2006.

In 2006, lawmakers changed the exemption to include the value of up to 1 acre of land along with the home, raised the top exemption to $75,000, and tied the cap to the housing price index so it would rise and fall along with Idaho’s housing market. The top exemption currently is $94,745.

Robison is a retired journalist who was editorial page editor of the Idaho Statesman from 1967 to 1977, then served nearly two decades as a member of the Legislature, serving in the Senate in 1979-80 and in the House from 1987 to 2004. He is the author of the 2014 book “Defending Idaho’s Natural Heritage,” a history of the major conservation battles in Idaho from 1890 to 1980.

HB 431 , the bill to remove the indexing of the exemption and instead cap it at $100,000, has passed the House and cleared the Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee; it’s awaiting a vote in the full Senate.