Idaho bill would make aircraft-parts tax break permanent; backers say it’s worked as promised

BOISE - Idaho lawmakers want to turn a temporary tax break for aircraft repair firms into a permanent business enticement.

“It’s created a lot of jobs,” said House Majority Leader Mike Moyle, R-Star.

When the tax break passed in 2012, it was the first time in four years a sales-tax break had cleared the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee.

The late Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Post Falls, led the enactment of the 2012 measure.

Henderson told the panel the tax change, offering a sales tax rebate for sophisticated parts installed in Idaho into out-of-state aircraft, would directly create jobs at aircraft parts businesses across Idaho. It also had a five-year expiration, or “sunset clause,” so lawmakers could check results.

House Tax Chairman Gary Collins, R-Nampa, said, “They’ve done everything they said they were going to do, plus more.”