A single mom, with a couple of kids, working the low wages Boise and Idaho are famous for, and living in an appartment, will not see any benefit to the increase in the homeowners exemption, but will see her spending power decrease by another percent that she can ill afford.

Like all tax “reforms,” this one is really a tax shift. Sort of like rearanging room assignments at the Hotel California. No one gains unless some one else loses. In this case, as is so often the case, the ones who can afford it least will be the ones who get hit the hardest.

You can save $1500 in sales tax by NOT buying a $25,000 car every year, and $12 in sales tax by using Grandpa’s old compass instead of buying a GPS at Cabela’s. John and Tam both posted examples of other ways in which people can save hundreds of dollars a year in sales tax. “Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without”.

Property tax however is different, it can’t be reduced through wise spending (you don’t get a discount if your kids are grown, if you don’t call the fire dept, etc.) Some folks who bought modest homes and paid them off early are now being forced to sell off adjacent lots (for infill) so they can afford to keep their homes. Other senior citizens are having to sell their homes altogether.

I’ve seen families move to Kuna because they can’t afford the taxes on the starter home they bought 15 years ago. I know another guy who went back to being a renter because it was cheaper than paying property tax. I’ve seen the property taxes on our home increase 500% in just an 8 year period and hate to think what it’s going to be when we retire.

If tax revenue can come from other sources, terrific. People who can afford to buy new cars every year and specialty clothes & gear from specialty stores can afford the 1% increase. Senior citizens and the working stiffs who don’t have that luxury should be guaranteed some security in knowing that they at least won’t be taxed out of the homes.

Ride a bike whenever you can, and stick it to the man. Brown bag your lunch, stick it to the man. Trade and barter, go to yard sales, stick it to the man. Turn off a light/computer, stick it to the man.

I wonder where was small business on this issue? This will effect their livelyhoods? Silent.
Idaho restaurants? Silent.

Idaho is made up of a silent majority that doesn’t mind a Musolini like dictator at the helm, protecting them from abortions, stem cell research, the environment, and jack booted thugs trying to take their guns. Where are those black helecopters when we need them?

EDITOR NOTE–I think it was a mixed metaphor joke..”2 senses” as in SEE the future and it SOUNDS.

Voter – team dave has nothing to do with this. Boise is not Idaho, so that means that Dave is not the gov, just the mayor of one city in the state. I hope that helps you understand that Dave could not stop the sales tax increase. He is just a mayor.
(and that is not a part of my one remaining cent.)

I keep hoping that this time will be the time their arrogance gets the better of them and the voters thoroughly purge their butts out of the Statehouse, but I hope that every year when they pull yet another stupid stunt or pass yet another big-business friendly little-guy hostile piece of legislation, and look what keeps happening.

Kudos to the heroic Democrats who had a better plan and fought the good fight all the way down to the bitter end. They had brass and courage and, as far as I’m concerned, better embody the true Idaho value of fearless independence than the spineless Republicans who allowed King Risch to take their manhood firmly in hand and squeeze. For once I’m damn proud to be an Ada County constituent. All you conservatives who think your straight “R” voting record represents some kind of “true Idaho” can truly and thoroughly shove it. (And hats off to the few Repubs. who stood their ground.)

Which reminds me– when the meagre property tax break you get from this is completely offset by the increased sales tax, along with the ever-rising cost of living, and you poor- and middle-class folks find your finances in ever more dire straits, but you still vote Republican because you care more about preventing the gays from marrying and the innocent fetuses from dying than your own economic well-being– don’t you dare make your way down to Boise city looking for help and aid. You got what you damn well deserved. Heartless? Yeah, but someone keeps voting these damnable idiots into office. They, and the rest of us, alas, will reap what they sowed.