House Republicans cruised to an easy win Monday, passing their latest tax cut proposal totaling $253 million.
Personal and corporate income tax rates would drop by nearly half a percent to 5.3%. Retired veterans’ military pension would be exempt and capital gains on precious metals like gold would no longer be taxed under the plan.
Those cuts, along with proposed increases to the grocery tax credit and property tax relief total more than $400 million.
Democrats, like House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel (D-Boise), said that figure is far more than the state can afford.
“If we do this, there is no chance we’re going to be able to end grocery taxes, which is the thing that I hear from my constituents that they want. This completely takes that off the table,” Rubel said.
House Majority Leader Jason Monks (R-Meridian) rejects that, saying the growth in economic activity and more people moving to Idaho will eventually outpace the loss in revenue.
“We’ll pay for those needs by cutting our taxes because the state will get more money in the long run,” Monks said.
House Assistant Majority Leader Josh Tanner (R-Eagle) added that Idaho’s savings accounts are full, leaving plenty of cash to cover future economic downturns.
“We’ve actually not just put money away into reserve accounts, we’ve actually built those accounts up. At some point in time we have too much and that is at the point of time we are at currently,” Tanner said.
The state has enough cash reserves right now to cover more than 20% of Idaho’s annual general fund budget.
Democrats Todd Achilles (D-Boise) and Soñia Galavis (D-Boise) joined all 61 Republicans in passing the bill, which now goes to the Senate.
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