Taxes split House candidates

They both have served one term in the Idaho House, and they both want to do it again.

So it’s up to voters Nov. 7 to decide whether former Rep. Bonnie Douglas, a Democrat, gets the job to represent Coeur d’Alene in District 4, House seat A, or if it’s incumbent Republican Rep. Marge Chadderdon.

Chadderdon, 68, was elected in 2004, her first political office after spending decades in local GOP clubs such as the Republican Women.

She signed on to all the major Republican legislation, especially supporting the August special session where lawmakers approved Gov. Jim Risch’s plan for property tax relief. That measure included removing school operation and maintenance costs from property tax rolls and replacing the money by increasing the sales tax 1 cent.

Douglas, 58, opposed the session and raising the sales tax because she said it harms the poorest residents. She wants the increase overturned.

If elected, Chadderdon plans to back legislation by Republican lawmakers in neighboring District 5, which covers Post Falls, to average property values over five years to reduce the assessment spikes. She also supports their push to increase the grocery credit, an alternative to the Democrats’ plan to eliminate sales tax on food.

Chadderdon, whose family started a wholesale floor covering business that’s now Great Floors, touts her greatest strength as a listener and said she works well with lawmakers from other districts.

“I felt very welcome and think I have a really good relationship with both parties,” Chadderdon said of her first two years in the House.

As for her own goals, Chadderdon wants to sponsor a bill updating the definition of a condominium, because with all the growth in Idaho the term hasn’t kept up with the times. She also wants to bring awareness to women’s cardiovascular issues but doesn’t have any specific legislation in mind.

Douglas lost her seat in the 2004 Democratic primary when Coeur d’Alene City Attorney Mike Gridley won. She doesn’t know why another Democrat challenged her, but she’s moved on and is ready to go back to work. She said her message revolves around working, middle-class families and her big issues are affordable housing and health care, education and living wages. Douglas also criticizes Chadderdon for “rubber-stamping” anything the Republican Party backs.

Douglas wants the state to give tax credits for tuition to help low-income people get college education, and tax incentives for developers to provide more low-income housing. She said poverty in Kootenai County has increased about 20 percent since 1994 and that the area is becoming bifurcated.

“It’s a sad day if downtown is all part-time residents, and the businesses are places where locals can’t afford to shop,” Douglas said.

Idahoans need wages that can support a family, and Douglas thinks the state should give workers an earned-income tax credit – like at the federal level. She also believes the minimum wage should increase at least $1.

Unlike Chadderdon, Douglas supports Proposition 1, which is also on the ballot and would force lawmakers to increase funding for schools by an amount equal to what a 1-cent sales tax increase would raise. For next year, the latest estimates put that figure at $219 million. Douglas said the money exists, especially with recent state budget surpluses. She said lawmakers need to make education funding a priority and that it’s better to put money toward schools than prisons.

Chadderdon argues that finding the $219 million would be difficult at best.

Douglas, a breast cancer survivor as is Chadderdon, also supports universal health coverage and thinks adult children who take care of their elderly parents should get a tax incentive.

Chadderdon is serving on the interim committee charged with finding a way to craft a statewide community college system. She wants to give people such as Kootenai County residents who currently pay property taxes to a community college district an income tax credit. And she wants to lower the supermajority vote required to create a community college.

Douglas supports both these ideas and wants to ensure that North Idaho College can’t sell its valuable waterfront property to make money for the school.

Both candidates oppose Proposition 2, which also is on the ballot and would enact a sweeping new regulatory takings law, requiring government to pay property owners if any land-use regulation diminishes their potential profits from full development of their land.