Committee Nixes Proposed Changes In College Funding Kootenai, Jerome, Twin Falls Counties Must Still Pay Property Taxes For Colleges

Kootenai County property taxpayers lost a chance at a $3 million tax cut Wednesday, when the House Revenue and Taxation Committee killed legislation to change how Idaho’s two community colleges are funded.

Property taxes make up a third of North Idaho College’s budget. Only Kootenai, Jerome and Twin Falls counties pay property taxes for their local colleges; all of Idaho’s other colleges are fully statefunded.

Rep. Ron Black, R-Twin Falls, said the situation is unfair. He proposed a 10 percent surcharge on liquor or a doubling of the tax on beer and wine to make up about half of the property tax money now going to community colleges.

Idaho’s beer tax hasn’t been raised or adjusted for inflation since 1961, Black said. It’s about 1.2 cents per can of beer. The wine tax, at 45 cents a gallon, hasn’t risen in 24 years.

Black was opposed by lobbyists for beer and wine distributors, liquor distillers and business groups.

Lobbyist Bill Roden, representing the Idaho Beer and Wine Distributors Association, told the farmer-dominated committee that raising beer and wine taxes would hurt farmers.

All of the hops Idaho produces go to the beer industry, Roden said, and 52 percent of the barley produced in Idaho eventually is used in beer. Plus, Idaho grape growers are part of the wine industry.

“Every time you touch that tax you hit at that agricultural community,” Roden said.

Rep. Mark Stubbs, R-Twin Falls, questioned why the beer and wine taxes are set on quantities of beer and wine, rather than a percentage of sales. That means they don’t rise with inflation like most other taxes.

North Idaho College is partly supported by Kootenai County property taxes. The College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls gets property tax support from Twin Falls and Jerome counties.

, DataTimes