Public testimony has concluded, and House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, the lead sponsor of HB 463, the governor’s tax-cut bill, told the House Revenue & Taxation Committee, “I’m hoping that we can focus on this bill. .. This bill lowers taxes for everybody that pays taxes in Idaho.” He said, “If you’re paying taxes in Idaho you benefit by the passage of this bill.”

Rep. Caroline Nilsson Troy, R-Genesee, noted Moyle’s initial comment when he introduced the bill to the committee that it may be the biggest tax cut in Idaho history. She noted predictions of an economic downturn in the next 18 to 24 months. “I’m concerned that this might be too big of a tax cut,” Troy said. “And I’m all for a tax cut. I voted for every single one that’s come through. But could you comment on that – what this might do to the state if we have a big market adjustment in the next couple of years?”

Moyle said, “Sometimes we get so afraid of the future ... that we don’t pay enough attention to the present, and we miss out on … an opportunity.” He said he believes Idaho’s done that several times in the last few years. “I think that you can’t look at it that way,” he said. Moyle said the tax cut will spur the economy. “It rolls into the economy, it creates jobs. It’s a benefit to the whole state of Idaho.”

Rep. Mat Erpelding, D-Boise, said, “I feel this state’s responsible for a 70 percent increase in college tuition, but since 2006, average wage has only gone up about $600 dollars. … We’re going to see another increase on colleges. We’re down toward the bottom … on overall tax burden. I get it, if it’s about window dressing. But the real challenge is workforce development, where’s the money going to come from, how are we going to pay for it?”

Moyle responded, “Have you ever thought that the reason our incomes aren’t growing ... is because the tax rates are too high? … Giving back $200 million dollars, it rolls” through the economy, he said. "It all goes back to when a business is here and they see 7.4 on the income tax, and everybody around us is lower. They leave."