Bill Would Clarify Floathouse Status

Idaho’s state parks board is proposing legislation to clarify that floathouses are homes, not vessels.

The difference matters, because boats are exempt from property taxes. Floathouses aren’t.

A Lake Pend Oreille resident upset over increases in his tax assessment is trying to cut his taxes by registering his floathouse as a boat.

The parks board, meeting in Boise last week, approved legislation to be proposed in the upcoming session. It includes several other minor provisions to update state boating laws, such as exempting float tubes from the requirement for hull identification numbers and raising the damage amount on a boating accident that has to be reported from $200 to $500. That is the federal standard.