House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star, brought legislation to the House Rev & Tax Committee today to make permanent a five-year tax break lawmakers enacted in 2012 for Idaho aircraft repair businesses, a measure originally enacted at the behest of the late Rep. Frank  Henderson, R-Post Falls. “It’s created a lot of jobs,” Moyle said. Rev & Tax Chairman Gary Collins, R-Nampa, said, “They’ve done everything they said they were going to do, plus more.”

When the tax break passed in 2012, it was the first time in four years a sales tax break had cleared the Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee. Henderson told the panel the tax change, offering a sales tax rebate for sophisticated parts installed in Idaho into out-of-state aircraft, would directly create jobs at aircraft parts businesses across Idaho. It also had a five-year expiration, or “sunset clause,” so lawmakers could check up on its results.

Moyle said the measure is an example of the right way to do a tax break. “It’s one of those exemptions where they did what they said they would,” he said. The House panel voted to introduce the bill, which Moyle is co-sponsoring with Senate Assistant Majority Leader Chuck Winder, R-Boise; that clears the way for a full hearing.

When Henderson pitched the bill, he said 23 states already offered similar tax exemptions, putting Idaho aviation parts businesses at a disadvantage. He told senators if the bill was enacted, seven Idaho companies would add 32 jobs within a year, and in the next five years, they'd hire on 182 new aircraft technicians. "There may be more potential than that, but today I wish to deal in the facts, and those seven companies are factual," he said then. "They are significant jobs and very important to our economy."