Counties Neutral On Kellogg’S Tax Bill

The Association of Idaho Counties has voted to take a neutral position on legislation that would change how Idaho divides up sales tax proceeds between its cities and counties.

The decision came as the group reconsidered a vote a day earlier to oppose the bill, which many said came because the assembled county officials didn’t understand it.

Rep. Hilde Kellogg, R-Post Falls, pitched the plan last year, but it died by a single vote in the House.

The formula that Idaho uses to divide up a portion of its sales tax revenues is based on 1965 business inventories, which means communities that have grown since 1965 lose out. Kellogg’s plan would give every community the same amount it’s getting now, plus 5 percent. Additional revenues from future growth would be divided by population.

That way, over time, growing areas would get back a little more of what they pay in.

Kootenai County Commissioner Dick Panabaker urged the county officials to support the bill, or if they couldn’t, to stay neutral.

Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin called the group’s vote “a craven position of wimping out,” adding, “They couldn’t stand up for what was right.”

The Association of Idaho Cities has endorsed the bill and is actively supporting it.