Corporate incentive bills triumph in House

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne’s corporate tax incentive package – which gives an array of tax breaks to companies that bring in 500 new high-paying jobs and spend $50 million in the state – passed overwhelmingly in the House just now, as did another bill to give similar breaks to small employers who bring in as few as 10 jobs paying $40,000 a year.

Among North Idaho representatives, just Reps. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, and Phil Hart, R-Athol, voted against the governor’s bill, HB 306. They said it would only worsen the property tax burden homeowners are facing. “If you give tax breaks to huge companies, you’re shifting it to others,” Hart told the House. The bill passed, 61-9, and now moves to the Senate.

The small-employer bill passed with only two no votes, from Reps. Ken Roberts, R-Donnelly, and Paul Shepherd, R-Riggins.