A Senate panel is due Thursday to help decide the 2012 Legislature's last critical question: Will Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter win his coveted $35 million tax relief bill, or will more-cautious lawmakers direct at least some of that cash toward savings, to be used if the economy sours again. The Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee has agreed to an 8 a.m. hearing on Otter's bill, which passed the House but languished for weeks in the Senate. In the world according to Otter, Idaho's economic turn-of-fortune has left it flush enough to direct about $35 million over five years toward teacher salaries, $35 million toward rainy-day savings - and give $35 million back to taxpayers/John Miller, AP. More here.

Question: Would you rather have $35 million in budget "surplus" go for tax relief for the wealthiest Idahoans or used to prop up rainy-day funds or programs hurt by spending cuts of recent years? (I know this is a loaded question)