Comments on: Major Tax Shift During Past Decade

By: Old Blue

Old Blue — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 17:11:41 +0000

A lot of good info…a lot of bad info. You can’t use dollar amounts only to gauge increases. Idaho’s population has swell by about 300,000 people, (about a 20-25% increase), since 1997 and obviously 1997 dollars are worth more than 2007 dollars. These factors have to be factored in to paint a more accurate picture. Without having the figures adjusted to at least those two factors we don’t really know what we’re looking at.

By: 64.07%

64.07% — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 03:06:11 +0000

If you are a dues paying member of IACI it looks like you’ve received a pretty good return on your investment these past years.

By: CYCLOPS

CYCLOPS — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:50:04 +0000

It doesn’t really seem to matter how you measure it. What it seems to say is that all those “deals” to Micron, Albertsons, Cabela’s, Buck Knives, Coldwater Creek,Camille Beckman’s, and every other company that promises more than two jobs,has come back to “bite” the citizens in the butt!
I would join the forces to oust those dirty conservatives, but I don’t believe the dems would do any better. Libertarians are a factor of market share. Anarchy is looking better all the time.

By: paul

paul — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:17:57 +0000

Property values are said to be down this year with the slowdown in demand for homes. Assessed values may or may not drop but you can bet the levy rates will more than make up for any drop in home values and homeowner taxes will continue to increase.
The shift to an additional 20% in sales tax did nothing to lower the taxes on my home. I now pay more in property taxes than I did for my mortgage payment. Who knows what a home is worth until it actually sells. Owners get to pay taxes on a value they can’t participate in any way until the property is sold. When will the good people in the State Legislature figure this out and make the system more equitable.

By: Rod in SE Boise

Rod in SE Boise — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:37:23 +0000

Ken Robison’s analysis seems to me to be right on, and the state legislature needs to address this problem immediately, but I won’t hold my breath.

By: Rod in SE Boise

Rod in SE Boise — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:32:52 +0000

Taxing assets (property taxes) and spending (sales taxes) is the problem. We should only tax income.

By: Michael Quinlan

Michael Quinlan — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:25:29 +0000

Is there some place to find the raw data for this analysis?

By: eric

eric — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:58:16 +0000

Basing property taxes on value of the property rather than value of the services received is the problem.