House Rev & Tax approves tax-cut bill on party-line vote

The House Revenue & Taxation Committee has voted along party lines to approve HB 463, the governor’s tax-cut bill; just the panel’s two minority Democrats, Reps. Mat Erpelding and John Gannon, both of Boise, voted against the motion. You can read my full story here at spokesman.com. The bill now moves to the full House. To become law, it still needs passage there, in a Senate committee and in the full Senate, and the governor’s signature.

Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, said he’d support the bill. “This tax bill seems to be getting some positive support from some fiscal conservatives,” Nate said. He noted that he’s called past proposed tax cut bills “weak sauce,” and said, “This bill here is not weak sauce, I think it’s full sauce. But it could be heartier, it could be more robust.” He added, “We do have high tax burdens relative to the conservative nature of this state. We can do a lot better.”

The annual Tax Burden Study, which the Idaho State Tax Commission has prepared each year since the 1970s, shows that Idaho’s total state and local tax burden per person ranks 48th among the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, and falls 29.6 percent below the U.S. average. It’s the lowest among 11 Western states. The state’s tax burden relative to income, which reflects Idaho’s relative low wages, still ranks 37th nationally and 10th among the 11 Western states. It comes in 11 percent below the national average.