Save more, or spend on schools, grocery tax relief?
The House voted unanimously Monday to raise the cap on Idaho's rainy-day fund, but that change could have a tough time competing against school funding and grocery tax relief, a key senator said. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, would lift the limit on the state's budget-stabilization fund to 8 percent of Idaho's yearly income, from the current 5 percent, starting with the 2007 budget. The Senate Finance Committee, however, will hold the bill until Republican leaders set priorities for the session, said Sen. Dean Cameron, R-Rupert, committee chairman. "It actually isn't a bad idea," said Cameron, who is also co-chairman of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. "The difficulty for us as we are starting to look at the budgets and the amount of money it would require, and look at the tax proposals that are perpetually coming out of Rev and Tax. There just frankly isn't enough money to do both." Read Parker Howell’s full story here in today’s Spokesman-Review.