Pity poor Alex LeBeau. President of the Idaho Association of Commerce and Industry, LeBeau must feel like he's playing a game of Whac-A-Mole. Every time LeBeau attempts to whack away at the $141 million in personal property taxes businesses pay on equipment, another mole pops up. First, the Idaho Tax Commission outlined how repeal would inflict carnage upon Idaho's counties, cities and schools. Some would be annihilated. Caribou County, for instance, would lose 43 percent of its tax base. The city of Plummer would forfeit nearly 46 percent. No school would be hurt more than Dietrich, which would lose nearly 52 percent. Just as IACI was swinging the mallet, up popped another mole: Providing total tax relief for 90 percent of Idaho's businesses - those with no more than $100,000 of personal property in each of Idaho's 44 counties - is getting cheaper. At first, the price tag was $21.5 million. Now it's down to only $18.7 million. Whack, whack/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Have you ever played Whac-A-Mole?