Democrats offer tax plan

Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Larry LaRocco joined Kootenai County Democrats on Tuesday in presenting their own property tax relief plan, calling his opponent, Gov. Jim Risch, a “temporary, unelected, caregiver governor” attempting to “fabricate a legacy” through fake property tax relief.

The Democrats’ property tax relief proposal exempts Idaho residential homeowners from paying the school maintenance and operation portion of the property tax and uses state surplus money to cover the estimated $104 million hole it would leave. It doesn’t increase the sales tax, and it doesn’t shift school funding off the property tax like the plan being pitched by Risch – it just changes who pays it.

“There are many ways to create property tax relief, and most of them are better than the Republican plan,” said Rep. George Sayler, of Coeur d’Alene.

Sayler and LaRocco were joined by about 10 other Democratic supporters, many of them candidates in November’s state congressional races, in a press conference on the front lawn of a home in Coeur d’Alene.

“There are people all around here who are going to be in the Legislature come January,” LaRocco said.

Though many say LaRocco, a former U.S congressman, is at a disadvantage in his campaign simply because of all the publicity his opponent has been getting from his status as governor, LaRocco said he can counter that by meeting as many people as he can and explaining his position on the issues.

“I’ve found that people want change,” he said.

He points to a poll conducted by research company Lake Research Partners in Washington, D.C., that claims Risch is “highly vulnerable” in his bid for re-election as lieutenant governor. Of the 600 likely voters polled by telephone, 36 percent indicated they would vote to re-elect Risch; almost two-thirds of voters said they will either consider someone else, vote to replace Risch or are unsure. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

LaRocco blasted Risch, saying he was using the governor’s office to campaign and is developing a property tax relief plan behind closed doors.

He accused him of catering to the interests of big business and private developers.

“All of them are cutting deals right now with the governor,” he said. “He is bargaining right now in secret, and that’s wrong.”

Risch has said that shifting the maintenance and operation portion of the property tax onto an increased sales tax and using state surplus to cover the difference is likely the only bill the Legislature will hear if there is a special session Aug. 25 as he has proposed.

“I really call this a cover-your-butt session,” LaRocco said.

Under the Republican property tax relief proposal, all property owners would get tax breaks, including corporations and those living in other states with vacation property in Idaho. Sayler noted that under such a proposal, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would see a significant reduction in the tax on his vacation home in Sun Valley. The people of Idaho would pay for the property tax relief through an increased sales tax, LaRocco and Sayler said.

Sayler, a retired high school government teacher, said the state system of government is being “short-circuited” as Risch pushes the Legislature into a special session.

Sayler said he’s had no contact with the governor or the majority party about the proposal, nor have his Democratic colleagues in the Legislature.

LaRocco said the Democrats drafted their proposal because they thought it was the fairest proposal and wanted to get their voices heard in all the talk about the maintenance and operation shift and the special session.

Sayler said that if their proposal doesn’t go anywhere, he isn’t sure he’ll vote for the maintenance and operation shift. He said he was probably the most conflicted member of the House when it came time to vote on similar proposals last session, referring to his status as both a Democrat and an educator.

“In my heart, I don’t like that proposal,” Sayler said. “But it may be necessary if we can’t do something better.”