Senate panel kills private school tax credits, other tax exemption bills

Here’s a link to my full story at spokesman.com on the Senate Local Government & Taxation Committee’s 7-2 vote today to kill HB 286, the bill from Sen. Bob Nonini to grant $10 million a year in tax credits for scholarships to private schools. After the meeting, I asked committee Chairman Jeff Siddoway, R-Terreton, the fate of other House-passed tax exemption or credit bills on which his committee hasn’t acted, and he said they’re all dead. “My plans are to hold those bills,” he said, including the Girl Scout cookie sales tax exemption and the exemption for anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers. “If everybody gets an exemption, then when does our sales tax go from 6 cents to 7 cents?” He said he had the “same argument” for the House-passed bill to grant a limited, two-year sales tax exemption for non-profit homeless shelters.