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Modest State Income Tax Cut Teed Up In Idaho Legislature

NWNews | By Tom Banse,
Tom Banse
Published January 26, 2016 at 3:31 PM MST
A view of the Idaho State Capitol from Downtown Boise
Bev Sykes
/
Wikimedia
A view of the Idaho State Capitol from Downtown Boise

A panel of the Idaho House of Representatives voted Tuesday to add a state income tax cut to the legislative session agenda.

A proposal from Republican leadership would shave one tenth of a percentage point off of the top personal income tax rates and corporate income tax. It would also increase the grocery tax credit by $10 for low income Idahoans.

"Listen: We've grown government by a lot of money a bit over the last few years. It's time we gave back a little bit,” House Republican Majority Leader Mike Moyle said. “This isn't as much as I would like to see. But it is a little bit and it touches all those bases that help make Idaho look better competitively nationally to bring businesses here, while at the same time taking care of those on the lower end of the economic scale."

Democrats on the House taxation panel posed skeptical questions to Moyle about how a tax cut would affect another Idaho session priority: Boosting public school funding. Moyle said his tax cut proposal "doesn't affect education at all depending on how you arrange the money in the budgets."

Meanwhile in the Washington Legislature, a lone Democratic senator reintroduced a perennial bill to ask voters to create a state income tax. Washington state does not have a personal income tax and past efforts to establish one have failed.

Copyright 2021 Northwest News Network. To see more, visit Northwest News Network.

Northwest News Network
Tom Banse
Tom Banse covers business, environment, public policy, human interest and national news across the Northwest. He reports from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events are unfolding. Tom's stories can be heard during "Morning Edition," "Weekday," and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
See stories by Tom Banse
Tom Banse
Tom Banse covers national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reports from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events are unfolding. Tom's stories can be found online and heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

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