Kootenai Ranks High For Tax Take County Kicks In More Than $240 Million To Idaho Coffers

Kootenai County registered the fourth-largest level of sales tax income in Idaho for the third quarter of 1997, adding nearly $242 million to state coffers in total taxable sales.

When the “multiple county” and “out-of-state” categories are pulled from the mix, however, Kootenai County ranked second in both total sales and taxable sales.

Statewide, Idaho had more than $9.7 billion in total sales and $3.4 billion in total taxable sales for the quarter ending Sept. 30.

By comparison, the state had total sales of almost $9.3 billion and total taxable sales of $3.3 billion for the third quarter of 1996.

The biggest third-quarter sales tax contributor was Ada County, with 24 percent of revenues.

Kootenai County taxes made up more than 7 percent of payments to the Idaho State Tax Commission, based on total sales of $522.3 million.

Auto sales were the county’s most-active industry, accounting for $60.5 million, or about 11.6 percent of total sales. Next were sawmills and planing mills at $41 million and grocery stores at $35.9 million.

Bonner County tax payments contributed more than 2 percent of total revenues, with total sales of more than $172 million and total taxable sales of $71.7 million. Miscellaneous retail was the main revenue category in Bonner County, claiming more than 22 percent of total sales at $38.4 million.

Shoshone County had $70.8 million in total sales and $24.7 million in total taxable sales. Automobile sales, at $40.8 million, made up 60 percent of all sales.

In Benewah County, total sales were $38.6 million and total taxable sales came to $12.5 million, with sawmills and planing mills representing the strongest industry sector at almost 44 percent of income.

Boundary County had $27.4 million total sales and $13 million taxable sales. Lumber mills and farm equipment were the county’s revenue leaders at 10 percent each.

Liz Rodosovich of the tax commission said the quarterly report does not credit each of Idaho’s 44 counties separately for income from national retail chains, which are listed in the “multiple county” or “out-of state” categories.

“Because of that, no county will have an absolutely accurate depiction of economic activity,” she said.

Combined, the two catch-all categories accounted for more than $2.9 billion in total sales and more than 31 percent of tax payments to the state during the third quarter.

, DataTimes